Stowaway discovered lifeless in touchdown gear of American Airways flight in Charlotte : NPR

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Gene J. Puskar/AP Police say they're investigating the demise of a stowaway discovered Sunday morning contained in the touchdown gear compartment of an American Airways flight that had lately arrived in Charlotte, N.C., from Europe.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police stated upkeep employees found the physique shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday whereas servicing the plane. Officers from CMPD's Airport Division pronounced the person lifeless on the scene. Murder detectives and crime scene groups responded, and the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner's Workplace will conduct an post-mortem.

In a short assertion, a spokesperson for American Airways confirmed the invention to NPR, including the airline was "working with regulation enforcement on its investigation."

There have been no instant particulars concerning the stowaway's identification, how they entered the airplane, or from what metropolis in Europe the flight originated.

Circumstances of stowaways hiding in wheel wells are uncommon however not unprecedented — and survival is rarer nonetheless.

Final week, a 13-year-old boy miraculously survived a 90-minute Kam Air flight from Kabul to Delhi, after he slipped into the airplane's touchdown gear compartment. The boy, who was repatriated again to Afghanistan, instructed native authorities he had wandered into the compartment out of curiosity.

Different incidents have resulted in tragedy. In January, two our bodies have been discovered within the touchdown gear of a JetBlue plane that had landed in Fort Lauderdale.

Consultants say freezing temperatures, excessive wind chill and an absence of oxygen make survival throughout lengthy flights in wheel wells extremely unlikely.

The Charlotte case stays beneath investigation. Anybody with data is requested to name the CMPD Murder Unit at 704-432-8477 or go away an nameless tip by means of Charlotte Crime Stoppers.