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Authorities in Maui have confirmed the discovery of a deceased individual who was found in the wheel well of a United Airlines flight.

What’s the deal: According to Maui police, the person was found in the compartment housing the aircraft’s landing gear, which is only accessible from the exterior of the plane. The flight, United Airlines Flight 202, departed from Chicago O’Hare International Airport at 9:31 a.m. local time and arrived in Maui nearly nine hours later at 2:12 p.m. Investigators are still working to determine how and when the person gained access to the wheel well.

Authorities believe the individual may have been attempting to stowaway, a dangerous practice often resulting in death due to the extreme conditions at high altitudes. Temperatures inside the wheel well can drop to between -58°F and -76°F, and the thin air at cruising altitudes leads to severe oxygen deprivation. In addition to possibly freezing to death or having no oxygen, stowaways also face the risk of being crushed by the landing gear. While rare cases of survival have been recorded, most stowaways die due to these conditions.

Official statement from United: In a statement, United Airlines said, “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 wheel well was only accessible from outside of the aircraft. At this time, it is not clear how or when the person accessed the wheel well.”

This all comes as previous cases of stowaways on commercial flights have occurred in recent years. Back in 2021, a man survived a flight from Guatemala to Miami after hiding in the landing gear of an American Airlines plane, and in 2022, another man was found alive in the nose wheel of a cargo plane traveling from South Africa to Amsterdam. In another notable case from 2014, a 15-year-old boy managed to survive a 5½-hour flight in the wheelwell of a Hawaiian Airlines plane traveling from San Jose to Maui.