Officials in Hawaii are investigating after a body was discovered in the wheel well of a United Airlines plane that flew from Chicago to Maui on Christmas Eve.
“Upon arrival at Kahului airport in Maui on Tuesday, a body was found in the wheel well of one of the main landing gears on a United aircraft,” the airline said in a statement to CNN Wednesday.
RELATED: Azerbaijani airliner crashes in Kazakhstan, killing 38, officials say
The body was discovered on a Boeing 787-10 aircraft, the statement added. Flight UA202 arrived in Hawaii Tuesday afternoon and was on time, according to flight tracking website, FlightAware.com.
“The wheel well was only accessible from outside of the aircraft,” United Airlines said. “At this time, it is not clear how or when the person accessed the wheel well.”
United is working with local law enforcement, the statement said. Police on Maui did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for more information.
The Maui Police Department is investigating the body’s discovery, according to CNN affiliate Hawaii News Now.
It is unclear how the body ended up in the plane’s wheel well or how the person died.
Hiding in a plane’s wheel well is the most common method used by stowaways in their sought-after journeys. Over 77% of people who have attempted to hitch an illegal ride on an aircraft have died, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Stowaways often get crushed when the landing gear retracts, as there’s not much room; in many aircraft, the space is even smaller than the trunk of a car.
As the flight reaches higher altitudes, conditions get worse. Oxygen levels become extremely low and stowaways struggle to keep conscious. During the flight, temperatures outside an airplane can drop dramatically, reaching as low as 75 or 80 degrees below zero, which isn’t conducive to blood flow. Stowaways risk frostbite and even hypothermia.
CNN’s Nicole Chavez contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
