Body found inside jet wheel well in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Maintenance workers at San Francisco International Airport on Thursday found a dead man in the wheel well of a United Airlines Boeing 747 arriving from China, an airline spokeswoman said.

"This was a very unfortunate incident. We are cooperating with authorities," United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said.

Flight 858 arrived in San Francisco after an 11-hour trip that began in Shanghai.

Airport workers occasionally find the bodies of stowaways in the chamber used to store wheels during flight. They often die from asphyxiation or exposure to sub-freezing temperatures.