Two people were found dead in the wheel well of a JetBlue plane from New York City after it landed at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, the airline said Tuesday.
The bodies were discovered Monday night during a post-flight maintenance inspection. Their identities are unknown, the airline said, and “the circumstances surrounding how they accessed the aircraft remain under investigation.”
JetBlue said the plane had most recently operated as Flight 1801 from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
The discovery comes two weeks after a body was found in the wheel bay of a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Maui.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the landing gear compartment is often used by stowaways, who don’t realize how little space is available in the bay when the gear is retracted. Stowaways who aren’t crushed often end up losing consciousness for lack of oxygen or freezing once the plane is at cruising altitude.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
