Body found in wheel well of United Airlines flight in Hawaii

A dead body was found in the wheel well of a United Airlines flight after it landed in Maui, Hawaii, on Tuesday. The body was discovered in the compartment housing the aircraft’s landing gear, and an investigation is underway to determine how the individual accessed it.

A dead body was discovered in the wheel well of a United Airlines jetliner after it landed in Maui, Hawaii, on Tuesday. The body was found in the compartment housing the plane’s landing gear after Flight 202 from Chicago O'Hare arrived at Kahului Airport.

United Airlines has not released further details about the deceased and is cooperating with authorities in the investigation. The airline stated that the wheel well was only accessible from outside the aircraft, and it remains unclear how or when the person accessed it.

Stowaways hiding in wheel wells face extreme dangers, including freezing temperatures and a lack of oxygen. While the fatality rate for such stowaways is high, there have been rare instances of survival.

In one case, a stowaway was found alive in Paris last year, and in January 2022, another survived a similar ordeal in Amsterdam.

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