Dead stowaway found in United flight wheel well that lands in Hawaii

MAUI, Hawai: A dead body was found in the wheel well of a United Airlines plane after it landed on the Hawaiian island of Maui, the airline said this week.

The body was discovered in the compartment holding the plane's landing gear when United Flight 202 from Chicago O'Hare Airport landed at Kahului Airport.

No additional details about the person were shared. United Airlines stated that the wheel well could only be accessed from outside the aircraft and that it was unclear how or when the person got inside. The airline is working with authorities to investigate the incident.

The Federal Aviation Administration has not commented yet.

Stowaways in wheel wells or cargo areas face extreme cold, with temperatures as low as minus 50 to minus 60 degrees Celsius, and a lack of oxygen, making survival unlikely.

However, some have survived, like a person found alive in a plane's undercarriage in Paris last year and another stowaway who survived in the wheel section of a cargo plane arriving in Amsterdam in 2022.