TOKYO — Japanese authorities said today they are trying to identify a body found inside one of the landing gear compartments on a Delta Air Lines plane flight that arrived in Tokyo from New York.

The body of the apparent stowaway, identified only as that of a male with dark skin, was clad only in a long-sleeved, plaid shirt and jeans, police at the Narita International Airport said today.

A mechanic found the body lying inside the landing gear compartment of the Boeing 777-200 during maintenance after Delta Flight 59 from New York landed at Narita on Sunday night, police official Zenjiro Watanabe said.

"All we know is that he must have sneaked in just before departure, because it is impossible for him to enter the storage during flight," Watanabe said.

The body had no visible injuries except signs of frostbite, and the man might have died of hypothermia during the flight, Watanabe said.

The temperature in that part of the plane falls to about minus 58 degrees during flight.