2 Decomposed Bodies Found In Plane's Wheel Well In Florida, Probe Launched

Two badly decomposed bodies have been found in the wheel well of a JetBlue plane from New York City after it landed at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, the airline said.

The bodies of two men were discovered inside the landing gear compartment at the time of post-flight maintenance inspection. The stowaways are thought to be from Jamaica since the flight started from Kingston, The New York Post reported.

The Airbus A320 jet remained in service throughout the day, as per the FlightAware data. It took off from Jamaica's Kingston at 1:10 AM (local time) and arrived in New York ahead of its 7:36 AM departure to Salt Lake City. The plane returned to the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and concluded its day by landing in Fort Lauderdale.

JetBlue said it was investigating the identities of the two men as well as the "circumstances surrounding how they accessed the aircraft.”

“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 said.

According to CNN, at 11:26 PM on Monday, an unidentified person said on Broward County Sheriff's Office radio, "A gate technician in the landing gear area noticed two males who appear to be Signal 7, advised they are not moving in the landing gear area”.

Signal 7 is a law enforcement code for a dead person.

Carey Codd, spokesperson for the Broward County Sheriff's Office, said the investigation so far only knows that the two people found dead were men. "Beyond that, their identities at this time are unknown,” Codd said.

“Detectives will investigate and research all aspects of this particular incident, trying to figure out where the flight originated from, where else it had been, the circumstances under which the individuals got onto the plane," Codd added. A law enforcement official said the two bodies were badly decomposed.

Broward County Aviation Department spokesperson Arlene Satchell confirmed that the investigation has not had any impact on flight operations at the airport.

“The passengers who arrived on the flight had already deplaned,” Satchell said.

The Transportation Security Administration said it was investigating the matter with help from the airline and others.