Body found in landing gear of plane landing in Hawaii

Police have launched an investigation after a body was found on the landing gear side of a U.S. plane that landed in Hawaii.

Police in Maui, Hawaii, said a body was found in the landing gear compartment of United Airlines Flight 202 that took off from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Monday and landed at Kahului Airport on Maui Island.

The landing gear storage space is a part of the fuselage in which the wheel part folds immediately after takeoff of the aircraft.

Police are investigating the identity of the deceased and how they were able to enter the plane's landing gear storage space.

In the past, people who sneaked into an airliner landing gear to enter the country have often been caught by authorities after landing or killed during operations.

In 2020, the body of a smuggler was found in the landing gear of an aircraft from Côte d'Ivoire to Paris, France, and in 2019, a person crashed and died on an aircraft passing over London.

Airplanes' landing gear storage space is an environment where it is usually difficult for humans to survive due to lack of oxygen and falling temperatures due to high operating altitude, but there are cases where they miraculously survive.

In 2021, a 26-year-old man was caught after landing while hiding in a landing gear locker on a flight from Guatemala to Miami.