Two people have been found dead in the landing gear compartment of a JetBlue plane at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, authorities have said.
An investigation is underway after the shocking discovery was made at Terminal 3 of the airport on Monday evening, with Broward County sheriff’s deputies and a medical examiner reportedly in attendance.
A spokesperson for JetBlue told The Independent the victims’ bodies were discovered during a “routine post-flight maintenance inspection” and that both were already dead when they were found.
It has emerged that the deceased are both male but their identities have not yet been released by investigators, who are working to determine how they came to be in the plane’s landing gear compartment.
“This is a heartbreaking situation, and we are committed to working closely with authorities to support their efforts to understand how this occurred,” the spokesperson said.
According to the carrier, the aircraft had most recently been deployed as Flight 1801 from New York’s JFK Airport.
While it is not yet known whether the deceased were attempting to stow away on the flight, it is not uncommon for people to use planes’ wheel wells, nose wells and other unpressurized areas to attempt to sneak aboard aircraft, a highly dangerous practice that commonly yields tragic results.
Anyone who attempts to conceal themselves within unpressurized wheel houses or cargo holds find themselves having to contend with freezing conditions, with temperatures potentially reaching between -58F and -76F, Reuters reports.
They could also struggle for oxygen and risk being crushed by a plane’s wheels.
Despite the high fatality rate, some people have managed to survive their incredible ordeal, with cases reported in Paris, Amsterdam and Miami airports in recent years.
