Bodies in JetBlue Landing Gear Were Dominican Teens

UPDATE Apr 9, 2025 5:30 AM CDT

Two people whose bodies were found in the landing gear of a JetBlue plane that flew from New York to Florida in January have been identified as teenagers from the Dominican Republic. Discovered in Fort Lauderdale on Jan. 6, Jeik Aniluz Lusi, 18, and Elvis Borques Castillo, 16, were identified after "extensive DNA testing," the Broward County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday, per NBC News. They died from asphyxiation, or lack of oxygen, per NBC Miami. It remains unclear how the teenagers got into the landing gear. The plane on which they were found had made a stop in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, on Jan. 5.

Jan 7, 2025 10:30 AM CST

JetBlue employees made a grim discovery while checking over a plane that landed in Florida on Monday. Two people were found dead in the landing gear compartment during a "routine post-flight maintenance inspection" at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport around 11:30pm, the airline said, per the Miami Herald. "This is a heartbreaking situation, and we are committed to working closely with authorities to support their efforts to understand how this occurred," JetBlue said, adding that the ID of the individuals and "circumstances surrounding how they accessed the aircraft remain under investigation," per CBS News.

The Airbus A320 had departed New York's JFK Airport at 8:20pm amid "frigid" temperatures, per CBS. It reached a cruising altitude of 38,000 feet before landing in Fort Lauderdale at 11:03pm. At such altitudes, the temperature in the unheated and unpressurized landing gear compartment can drop to around minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit, per Deutsche Welle. Death can also come from a lack of oxygen. The airport said there was no impact on operations. The Broward County medical examiner's office will carry out autopsies on the bodies to determine the causes of death while the local sheriff's office investigates. (More JetBlue stories.)