Two bodies were discovered during a routine maintenance inspection after a JetBlue flight in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Authorities reported the discovery of two bodies in the landing gear compartment of a JetBlue aircraft at a South Florida airport.
The bodies were found in the plane's wheel well and were located Monday night at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, according to a statement from the airline sent to The Associated Press.
The bodies were discovered during a routine maintenance inspection after the flight, JetBlue said.
The aircraft 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 gained access to the aircraft are being investigated,” the JetBlue 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.
Paramedics pronounced both people dead at the scene, the Broward County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday. The agency's homicide and crime scene investigation units are already investigating the case, he said. So far, the names of the deceased have not been released.
This is the second time in the last month that a body has been found in the wheel well of an airplane. In late December, a body was found in that part of a United Airlines plane after landing in Maui from Chicago.
In recent months, the airline industry has also dealt with ticketless passengers in cabins.
In November, a Russian woman without a ticket boarded a Delta Air Lines flight bound for Paris in New York and was arrested when the plane landed in France. He somehow managed to bypass security to board, authorities said.
Later 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 maneuvering for takeoff, Delta said at the time.