2 people found dead in JetBlue plane landing gear at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
FORT LAUDERDALE - Broward sheriff's deputies and a medical examiner descended on Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport overnight after bodies were found in an aircraft compartment on a JetBlue Airways plane.
JetBlue issued a statement that said two people were found dead in an aircraft's landing gear compartment on Monday night. The bodies were found during a routine inspection after the plane landed.
"The circumstances surrounding how they accessed the aircraft remain under investigation," JetBlue 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 carrier said the aircraft most recently operated as Flight 1801 from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
According to CBS News senior transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave, the Airbus A320 departed JFK on Monday night at 8:20 p.m. The night temperatures in New York were frigid. It arrived in Fort Lauderdale a few minutes late at 11:03 p.m. Its cruising altitude was approximately 38,000 feet for the two-hour and 43-minute flight, per flightradar24.
The plane began its day in Kingston, Jamaica, according to the Transportation Security Administration. It then flew to JFK in New York, then to Salt Lake City, Utah, then back to JFK before ending up in Fort Lauderdale, according to Van Cleave, who said the plane overnighted in Kingston after arriving from JFK on Jan. 5th.
It is protocol for pilots to do a walk around the plane before each flight. Part of the inspection is to check the wheel wells. It's possible that the people weren't immediately visible in this case, according to Van Cleave.
According to the Broward Sheriff's Office, the deceased are both male and beyond that their identities are unknown.
The Jamaica Observer is reporting the two dead are believed to be Jamaican nationals, but CBS News Miami has not independently confirmed that information.
On Tuesday afternoon, Kamina Smith, Jamaica's Foreign Minister took to social media and posted on X:
"We have noted distressing reports in the media regarding the discovery of two deceased persons in the wheel well of an aircraft in Fort Lauderdale. While there is speculation regarding the nationalities of the persons found, our information to date is that this matter still under investigation by authorities, with the identities of the deceased individuals yet to be officially confirmed."
Broward Sheriff crime and homicide detectives are working to learn how they ended up in the wheel compartment. The county's Medical Examiner's Office will perform autopsies to determine what caused their deaths.
"It's clearly a security breach there. You wonder if it's too many passengers, it's the holidays, but that should never happen," said JetBlue passenger Steve Daoust.
Van Cleave says the wheel well is not typically pressurized or heated and temperatures at altitude are well below freezing. People who choose to stow away like this almost always face death.
A similar incident happened over the holidays in Hawaii. A body was found in the wheel well of a United Airlines flight from Chicago when the plane landed in Maui. There is no explanation for how the person got on the ramp.
JetBlue Airways is headquartered in Long Island City in Queens, New York. It has a field office on the property of Orlando International Airport.
