The bodies of two people were found in the landing gear compartment of a JetBlue plane after it landed in Florida, airport authorities have confirmed.
An investigation is underway after two dead bodies were located in the wheel well of an Airbus A320 during a post-flight inspection on Monday evening.
JetBlue officials revealed the aircraft had most recently operated as Flight 1801 from New York’s JFK Airport, a routine flight that takes over three hours.
FlightAware revealed that the scheduled flight from New York to Florida departed at 7:49pm and landed at 11:10pm on Monday evening.
According to a statement from the airline: “the circumstances surrounding how they accessed the aircraft remain under investigation.”
“This is a heartbreaking situation, and we are committed to working closely with authorities to support their efforts to understand how this occurred."
Local reports reveal that the Broward County Sheriff’s office, as well as medical examiners, were on site at Terminal 3 but the incident hasn’t impacted other flights.
Stowaways often use the wheel well of planes when attempting to smuggle themselves across flight routes, even though its considered extremely dangerous.
They risk being crushed by landing gear when it retracts after takeoff, as well as frostbite, and loss of consciousness. There have been several reports of stowaways falling to their death once the landing gear opens again.
The latest JetBlue incident came just two weeks after another body was discovered in the wheel well of a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Maui.
A woman was also arrested in November 2024 after she travelled from JFK to Paris as a stowaway without a ticket, although in this case she travelled in the cabin.
There have also been instances of UK-destined flights similarly bringing stowaways with them.
In 2022, a stowaway on a TUI flight from Gambia to Gatwick died of hypothermia while travelling in the wheel well during the long-haul flight.
