Two bodies were discovered aboard a U.S. airliner, prompting an investigation by authorities.
According to reports from AP and Bloomberg on Tuesday, the bodies were found in the landing gear compartment of a JetBlue passenger plane while it was undergoing inspection at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida.
The Airbus A320 had departed from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and arrived in Fort Lauderdale at 11 p.m. the previous night.
The landing gear compartment where the bodies were found is part of the aircraft’s fuselage, which folds inward after takeoff near the wheel area. Both bodies are believed to be male, but their identities have not yet been confirmed.
JetBlue said, “At this time, the identities of the individuals and the circumstances surrounding how they accessed the aircraft remain under investigation.” The airline added, “This is a heartbreaking situation, and we are committed to working closely with authorities to support their efforts to understand how this occurred.”
Flight tracking website FlightAware reported that the plane had flown from New York to Florida after stopping in Kingston, Jamaica, and Salt Lake City, Utah. This has led to speculation on social media about whether the deceased may have been from Jamaica.
In response, Kamina Smith, Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, stated on X, “While there is speculation regarding the nationalities of the persons found, our information to date is that this matter remains unclear, and there is no immediate basis on which to conclude that they are Jamaicans.”
It’s known that illegal immigrants sometimes attempt to stow away in the landing gear compartment of aircraft to enter a country. However, due to the lack of oxygen and extreme cold at high altitudes during flight, they often succumb to these conditions and are found deceased.
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