British investigators are trying to determine if two men -- possibly Cubans -- whose bodies fell onto the English countryside had hidden themselves in the wheel well of a British Airways jet before it left Havana.

One body was found Christmas Eve on a Surrey farm, and the other fell from a Mexico-bound Boeing 777 as it took off from London's Gatwick Airport on Christmas Day.

``We're looking at the likelihood that both men had stowed away on the same aircraft from Havana,'' said Chris Oswick, a spokesman for the Sussex Police Department.

A post-mortem examination showed that the men, one of whom was carrying Cuban currency, died because of the sub-zero temperatures and lack of oxygen in the wheel compartment as the plane flew at 35,000 feet. Both men appeared to be in their early 20s.

Oswick said investigators spent Thursday inspecting the plane . A team will fly to Havana next week to seek Cuban authorities' help in identifying the men.

``It's going to take time because it's not a straightforward identification,'' he said. ``We're going through the usual channels. I'm not sure of our relations with Cuba, but it clearly involves the need for us to coordinate at international level. It's not a matter of knocking on someone's door and checking people's identification.

``Anyone who seeks to leave that way must be fairly desperate,'' he said. ``They're unlikely to advertise their identity.''

The first body was found by farm workers in an 80-acre field at Rudgwick on the West Sussex-Surrey border. The location of the field, directly beneath the main flight path into Gatwick and Heathrow airports, suggested that the body had fallen as the plane lowered its wheels to land.

The second body was seen falling several hundred feet onto a runway as the British Airways flight, with 300 passengers, took off.

This report was supplemented by Herald wire services.