A routine post-flight inspection revealed two bodies in the landing gear compartment of a JetBlue airplane after a flight from New York to Florida on Monday.
In a statement released early Tuesday, the airline confirmed that the two bodies were discovered after a flight from JFK to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Paramedics pronounced the two individuals dead at the scene. It was not clear how long they were in the landing gear compartment.
Reportedly, this is one way that hitchers hide on airplanes (via The New York Times):
Landing gear compartments, located under an aircraft’s wings and at the front of the plane, have long been used by people attempting to travel undetected on airplanes. The airline did not say whether the two people who were found dead on Monday were stowaways.
Such attempts to hide in landing gear compartments have proven deadly in the past. The compartments open and close upon takeoff and landing to deploy and retract wheels and other landing components, and other stowaways have fallen to their deaths from the openings, sometimes landing in public spaces along flight paths.
Those who can stay within the compartment risk being crushed by landing gear when it is withdrawn back into the aircraft, along with other hazards, including severe temperatures, pressure changes and lack of oxygen. Many stowaways die of hypothermia.
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"This is a heartbreaking situation, and we are committed to working closely with authorities to support their efforts to understand how this occurred," a spokesperson for JetBlue said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Reportedly, an investigation is underway to determine the identities of the two deceased individuals and how they gained access to the aircraft.
On Christmas Day, a body was discovered in a wheel well of a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Hawaii.
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