A body was discovered inside the wheel of a United Airlines plane after it landed in Hawaii on Christmas Eve.
The flight departed from Chicago Tuesday afternoon, bound for Maui.
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However, the horrific scene was discovered when the United Airlines flight landed at Kahului Airport.
The airline said the body was found in the well of one of the main landing gear.
“The wheel well was only accessible from outside the aircraft,” United Airlines said in a statement.
“At this time, it is not clear how or when the person got into the wheel well.”
Read more in the American newspaper The Sun
The person's gender or identity was not revealed.
United Airlines said it is working with local law enforcement on the incident.
Maui police did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the U.S. Sun.
The police department told Hawaii News they are now investigating the case.
The incident did not affect United Airlines operations or Kahului Airport procedures.
Airport horror
This incident is the latest example of the many risks that airport employees and passengers face every day.
In August, two Delta Air Lines employees were killed when an aircraft tire exploded while being removed.
Mirko Marwig, 58, and Luis Aldarondo Jr., 37, died after the horrific accident at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport over the summer.
A tire on a Delta Air Lines plane exploded while workers were replacing it at an Atlanta airport maintenance facility, according to ABC affiliate WSB-TV.
Eyewitnesses told the outlet that the impact sent metal flying into the air like missiles that hit the workers.
The accident resulted in the injury of a third person.
Marwig and Aldarondo are described as a Delta employee and contractor.
Marwig, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, about 20 miles northeast of Atlanta, had worked for Delta for more than 20 years, but this was scheduled to be his last job with the airline, according to NBC affiliate WXIA-TV.
He was scheduled to retire two or three months after the fatal accident.
Aldarondo, who was from Newnan, Ga., about 40 miles southwest of Atlanta, was married with two young children.
