Heartbreaking identities of two teens found dead under JetBlue plane traveling from New York revealed

Florida authorities have confirmed that human remains found under a commercial JetBlue airplane that travelled from New York to Fort Lauderdale in January belong to two teenage boys. 

After extensive DNA testing the Broward County Sheriffs Office identified 18-year-old Jeik Lusi and 16-year-old Elvis Castillo as the two people found dead in the landing gear of the plane on January 6. 

The harrowing statement, released on Monday, did not provide details on how the teen victims gained access to the landing gear or their causes of death.

Aviation expert Gary Sheradsky believes that duo likely died an unbelievable death, due to the arctic temperatures and lack of oxygen at altitude.  

How cold it is outside the plane is how cold it is in the wheel well, Sheradsky, 62, told the Miami Herald. It was definitely below zero. Its probably an unbelievable way to die.

Temperatures at 40,000 feet where planes typically cruise normally hover between -40°F to -70°F, according to Airplane Academy. 

And while the planes cabin is pressurized, the wheel well would not have been, meaning they would likely have been starved of oxygen.

The devastating discovery was made during a routine post-flight maintenance check after the plane, which took off from New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Aiport, landed in Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport in Florida. 

Following extensive DNA testing, the Broward County Sheriffs Office identified 18-year-old Jeik Lusi and 16-year-old Elvis Castillo as the two people who were found dead inside the landing gear of a JetBlue on January 6

The devastating discovery was made during a routine post-slight maintenence check after the plane, which took off from New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Aiport, landed in Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport in Florida

The deceased bodies were found in the planes landing gear compartment, the airline confirmed to the Daily Mail. 

On Monday evening, January 6, at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, two individuals were found in the landing gear compartment of one of our aircraft during the routine post-flight maintenance inspection, JetBlue said. 

It remains unclear how the boys, who were from the Dominican Republic, were able to gain access to the planes undercarriage, or where they did so. 

Operating flight 1801 made stops in Jamaica, Salt Lake City and New York before the gut-wrenching discovery in Fort Lauderdale, according to the New York Post. NBC reported that the aircraft had previously been in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

The Daily Mail has reached out to JetBlue for comment. 

This is a heartbreaking situation, and we are committed to working closely with authorities to support their efforts to understand how this occurred, the airlines statement from January continued.

Ironelis Castillo, Elviss mother, told Broward County Sheriffs Office that her son was driven to a nearby airport before leaving the Dominican Republic on January 4.

Aviation expert Gary Sheradsky (pictured) said two stowaways who died inside a JetBlue planes wheel compartment likely froze to death

That was the last she heard from him, the Post reported.

While it is unclear whether the teenagers were attempting to stow away on the flight, it is not uncommon for people to use wheel wells, nose wells and other unpressurized areas to sneak on to aircrafts, according to reporting by Reuters.

Stowaways in the unpressurized wheel houses and cargo holds of planes have to contend with freezing conditions, with temperatures that can reach between minus 58 degrees and minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit, Reuters said. 

A lack of oxygen and the risk of being crushed by the planes wheels are a severe threat to life.

The teen boys deaths bear an eerie similarity to another incident which happened in Hawaii on Christmas Eve when a dead body was discovered on the wheel of a United Airlines jet that had flown to Kahului Airport in Maui from Chicago.

The body, which has still not been identified, was discovered on the wheel well of the Boeing 787-10.

United said at the time that it was unclear how the person had gained access to the wheel well.

There is no indication that the Fort Lauderdale and Hawaii deaths are linked.