The deaths of two males were found at the airport in Bogota, and authorities said they are looking into their nationalities and place of origin.
According to a statement released by Avianca on Saturday, “upon its arrival at the El Dorado airport in Bogota, staff from the airline discovered the bodies of two passengers who flew irregularly [stowaways] in the undercarriage of the plane.”
Avianca offered condolences to the two victims’ families and stated that, while it inspects aircraft before every flight, authorities are in charge of ensuring the security of airports and their restricted areas.
“The technical investigation body of the attorney general’s office is carrying out urgent actions to identify the nationality and origin of the bodies aged between 15 and 20, Afro-descendent, which were found inside the airplane,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement.
Not identified
Although no identification documents were found with the bodies, one was carrying currency from the Dominican Republic and a suitcase found with the men had paperwork from that country, suggesting the men may have been in that country.
Those discoveries “infer that the men could have been on the plane since January 3”, when it was last in the Dominican Republic, the office said.
The plane was last given regular maintenance on December 27, the attorney general’s office added, and has since travelled to Bogota, Guarulhos, near Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Santiago.
The bodies had been frozen and were partially thawed, the statement added, and one had burns.
Source: Aljazeera.com