Two bodies were discovered on a JetBlue plane during a routine maintenance inspection of the aircraft’s landing gear after it landed in Florida on Monday evening, officials confirmed.
The incident occurred on JetBlue Flight 1801, which had departed from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and arrived at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The bodies were found during the post-landing inspection, according to a JetBlue spokesperson.
“This is a heartbreaking situation, and we are committed to working closely with authorities to support their efforts in determining how this happened,” the spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News.
Paramedics pronounced two individuals dead at the scene after their bodies were removed from a JetBlue plane, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Department. The agency’s crime scene and homicide units are actively investigating the incident, as reported by the Associated Press. The identities of the deceased, who were found between the plane’s landing gear and wheel, have not yet been released.
JetBlue Flight 1801 departed from New York, where temperatures had dropped well below freezing, shortly before 8 p.m. on Monday. The plane landed in Fort Lauderdale at 11:10 p.m., about five minutes behind schedule, according to flight tracker data. While the flight’s most recent journey originated in New York, the aircraft had earlier traveled to Kingston, Jamaica, and Salt Lake City, Utah, earlier on Monday, as reported by FlightAware.com. Authorities have not yet determined where the deceased individuals may have come from.
Carey Codd, a spokesperson for the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, told the Associated Press that the two individuals are believed to be males. “Their identities remain unknown, and that is one of the aspects detectives are working to establish,” Codd stated.
“Detectives will thoroughly investigate all elements of this case, including the flight’s origins, its prior destinations, and the circumstances under which the individuals boarded the plane,” he added.
Given the aircraft’s prior stop in Jamaica, questions have arisen about whether the two victims could be Jamaican. However, Kamina Smith, Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, stated in an X post that there is no immediate evidence linking the victims to Jamaica. “Our information to date is that this matter still remains unclear and there is no immediate basis on which to conclude that they are Jamaicans,” Smith wrote. “We remain in contact with the relevant authorities and will provide updates as soon as greater clarity and accuracy are available regarding this tragic incident,” she added.
According to the Associated Press, autopsies will be conducted to determine the victims’ cause of death. A spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said the agency is working closely with the airline, airport officials, local law enforcement, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Investigators have ruled out any connection between the deaths and JetBlue staff.
The discovery of the bodies on the JetBlue plane is the second such incident in less than a month. In late December, a 15-year-old boy’s body was found in the wheel well of a United Airlines plane after it landed in Maui. The boy is believed to have accessed the landing gear from the exterior of the aircraft.
Both cases have raised serious national security concerns regarding vulnerabilities in airport and aircraft security. “These incidents highlight gaps in security protocols and layers of defense,” said Jeff Price, a professor of aviation at Metropolitan State University of Denver. “It suggests a troubling ability to bypass standard procedures that regular passengers must follow,” he added.
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