Two stowaways who hitched a ride in a New York bound plane’s landing gear fell to their death just moments after taking off.
Two victims fell onto the runway at Guayaquil, Ecuador as the Latam Airlines Boeing 767 took off.
One man died instantly while a second died a few minutes later.
The runway was shut down for 90 minutes while authorities removed the bodies.
The jet had originated in Peru and was allowed to continue its flight to New York JFK.
Police did not reveal the identities or their nationalities but said they probably fainted or were ejected at wheels up.
The Latam plane may be required to come back to Jose Joaquin de Olmedo International Airport to assist in the investigation, prosecutor Germn Bustamante said.
The Federal Aviation Administration says there have been 113 stowaway attempts on flights departing or arriving in the US between 1947 and 2015.
Of those, just 27 people survived, the agency said.
