Two men were found dead inside a wheel well of a JetBlue plane that flew from New York City to Florida, the airline said Tuesday.
The bodies were discovered inside the landing gear compartment during a routine post-flight maintenance inspection at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, a JetBlue spokesperson told The Post.
The aircraft had most recently operated Flight 1801 from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, which landed in Fort Lauderdale just after 11 p.m. Monday, according to FlightAware.com.
“The individuals who (are) deceased are both males. Beyond that, their identities at this time are unknown,” Carey Codd, a spokesperson for the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, told CNN.
He did not confirm the nationality of the dead men. The Jamaica Observer said both were thought to be Jamaicans, but stressed their identities had yet to be confirmed.
“The Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office will perform autopsies to determine the causes of death of both individuals,” Codd added.
The bodies were badly decomposed, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Officials said the identities of the deceased are being withheld by the airline as they investigate how they gained access to 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 spokesperson added.
The Transportation Security Administration is investigating the deaths with help from the airline, FAA and local law enforcement.
The National Transportation Safety Board told CNN it is not part of that investigation because “it appears that the incident had no involvement of the flight crew or operation of the airplane.”
