Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Jeff Martin and Freida Frisaro

Two bodies found in plane’s landing gear at Florida airport

Homicide and crime scene units are investigating the deaths - (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Two bodies have been found in the landing gear of a plane at a South Florida airport.

Authorities said they were found on a JetBlue aircraft.

They were found in the wheel well area Monday night at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, the airline said in a statement.

They were discovered during a routine post-flight maintenance inspection, JetBlue said.

The aircraft had arrived in Fort Lauderdale shortly after 11 p.m. from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

"At this time, the identities of the individuals and the circumstances surrounding how they accessed the aircraft remain under investigation," JetBlue's statement said.

“This is a heartbreaking situation, and we are committed to working closely with authorities to support their efforts to understand how this occurred,” the airline added.

A JetBlue Airways Airbus A320-232 takes off from the Tampa International Airport in Tampa (Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistribu)

Paramedics declared both of them dead at the scene, the Broward County sheriff's office said on Tuesday. The agency's homicide and crime scene units are investigating, it said. The individuals' names were not immediately released.

It's the second time over the past month that a body has been found in the wheel well of an airplane. In late December, a body was found in the wheel well of a United Airlines plane after it landed in Maui from Chicago.

The airline industry in recent months has also been dealing with unticketed passengers found in cabins.

In November, a Russian national who did not have a ticket boarded a Paris-bound Delta Air Lines flight in New York and was arrested when the plane touched down in France. She had somehow bypassed security to board the flight, authorities said.

Then on Christmas Eve, a passenger without a ticket boarded a Delta Air Lines flight from Seattle to Honolulu. The passenger was discovered while the plane was taxiing for departure, Delta said at the time.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.