Two people were found dead in the wheelwell of a JetBlue plane that arrived from New York City at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, the airline reported on Tuesday.
The bodies were found Monday night during a routine post-flight maintenance inspection. The identities of the individuals remain unknown.
JetBlue Corporate Communications said that "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," it added.
Carey Codd, spokesperson for the Broward County Sheriff's Office, said: "The Broward County Medical Examiner's Office will perform autopsies to determine the causes of death of both individuals."
Monday's incident follows a similar tragedy just two weeks earlier, when a body was discovered in the landing compartment of a United Airlines flight that had arrived from Chicago at an airport in Hawaii on Christmas Eve.
"The wheel well was only accessible from outside of the aircraft. At this time, it is not clear how or when the person accessed the wheel well," a spokesperson for United Airlines said at the time.
The Federal Aviation Administration said that the landing gear compartment is a common area used by stowaways, who often underestimate the limited space in the bay once the gear is retracted. Those who aren't crushed frequently lose consciousness due to a lack of oxygen or succumb to freezing temperatures at cruising altitude.
