Body Found In Wheel Well On Shanghai-SFO-LAX Flight

SAN FRANCISCO -- A body was discovered in a wheel well of a United Boeing 747 flight at the San Francisco International Airport on Thursday, NBC11 in San Francisco reported. A San Mateo coroner was called to the scene.

SFO officials told NBC11 the body was found during the post-flight inspection by a mechanic. A spokesman for the airport said the body appeared to be male, based on clothing, but the gender was not entirely clear. The spokesman said it appears the person had apparently crawled inside the nose gear's housing intentionally, suggesting an attempted stowaway.

The flight was United Flight 858 out of Shanghai. It was scheduled to land at 8:32 a.m. Thursday but got in early at 7:42 a.m., according the United Web site.
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The flight was scheduled to continue to Los Angeles with a scheduled departure from SFO at 10:45 a.m. It took off from Sainghai at 12:10 p.m. Thursday.

Airport officials said the plane flew as high as 40,000 feet, which meant the temperature in the wheel well would be 30 degrees befow zero.

Airport officials said the plane was impounded and the passengers had all deplaned before the discovery.


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