Teens found dead in plane's landing gear after flight from JFK identified
The bodies of Jeik Aniluz Lusi, 18, and Elvis Borques Castillo, 16 were discovered late in the night on Jan. 6 by workers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport who were carrying out a 'routine post-flight maintenance inspection' at the time, the airline said.
According to flight data, the Airbus A320 had a busy schedule that day, initially traveling from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, to New York's JFK Airport. It then traveled between Jamaica, New York, and Salt Lake City, Utah, before landing for the night in South Florida at 11:10 p.m., WFOR-TV reported.
The stowaways, both from the Dominican Republic, were pronounced dead by paramedics on the scene.
The Broward County Sheriff's Office said investigators relied on the use of 'extensive DNA testing' to determine their identities. Their causes of death, meanwhile, remain undetermined, with both sets of remains still awaiting autopsies.
While authorities have not said how the teens managed to sneak into the plane's wheel well, a preliminary investigation has suggested they did not gain access to the aircraft at JFK.
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