A U.S. Air Force C-130J Super Hercules from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, performs a grass landing during a training deployment at Powidz Air Base, Poland, July 11, 2014. 
 
 WASHINGTON — A body appearing to be that of an African teen was found Sunday in the landing gear bay of an Air Force C-130J at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday. 
 
 The boy, described as an adolescent black male, was hidden in a spot above the rear landing gear where routine pre- or post-flight inspections would not have found him, Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said. 
 
 A defense official speaking anonymously told NBC News that the boy is believed to have entered the plane in Mali. Kirby said he could not confirm that report. 
 
 “The aircraft had just returned from supporting Africa Command operations with stops in a few countries,” he said. “At this point it is unknown where or when the deceased entered the landing gear wheel well.” 
 
 The plane is assigned to the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein. 
 
 American and German emergency responders removed the body and transported it to a German facility for autopsy. The boy’s body was free of communicable diseases, Kirby said. The cause of death remains under investigation. 
 
 The investigation will include a look at security measures on the ground wherever the boy entered the cargo aircraft, Kirby said. 
 
 “In some of the airfields where these aircraft have to operate, by nature of the jobs we’re doing and the locations that they’re flying in and out of, that airport security and airfield security isn’t exactly in every case up to the same standard that we observe here in the United States,” he said. 
 
 

 Story highlights Spokeswoman: The Air Force plane made 5 stops over an 8-day stretch 
 
 That includes going to West Africa, which is in the midst of an Ebola outbreak 
 
 An adolescent male is found in the wheel well of a C-130 after it landed in Germany 
 
 Tests indicate the young male didn't have communicable diseases 
 
 The body of an "apparent stowaway" was found in the wheel well of a U.S. Air Force plane that traveled around Africa before returning to an American base in Germany, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday. 
 
 The deceased "adolescent black male, possibly of African origin" turned up during a "detailed post-flight inspection" of the C-130 at Ramstein Air Base on Sunday night, according to Pentagon spokesman Adm. John Kirby. 
 
 The body didn't affect the plane's flight, nor was it visible during "standard" inspections before and after flights, he said. 
 
 Since taking off from Ramstein, the C-130 had stopped in Senegal, Mali, Chad, Tunisia and Italy over an eight-day stretch, said Air Force spokeswoman Erika Stecker. 
 
 Where and when did the adolescent male get on the plane? Authorities stated Tuesday that they don't know -- though the fact that the aircraft stopped in parts of Africa now dealing with a deadly Ebola outbreak raises cause for concern. 
 
 The World Health Organization had confirmed more than 800 Ebola cases in West Africa, which includes Senegal and Mali, as of July 23, but suspects there have been many unreported infections and there may be more like 1,200 cases. 
 
 Kirby said that lab tests of samples taken from the apparent stowaway's body came back negative "for communicable diseases." 
 
 "The cause of death, as well as the other circumstances surrounding this incident, remains under investigation," said the Pentagon spokesman. 
 
 The C-130 was "supporting Africa Command operations" during its various stops, Kirby said.
– No stowaway miracles this time: The body of an adolescent black male was found hidden in the wheel well of a C-130 US Air Force aircraft that landed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, reports Stars and Stripes. It's not clear who the boy is or where he snuck onto the plane, but one US official says the best guess is that he got on in either Mali or Chad, reports NBC News. Wherever it was, the youth evaded a routine pre-flight check but was discovered in a more thorough safety check that occurred at the end of the plane's eight-day mission. During those eight days, the plane stopped in Senegal, Mali, Chad, Tunisia, and Italy, reports CNN. Authorities tested the body for communicable diseases and found none, a standard procedure but one of special concern given the Ebola outbreak in Africa. "The cause of death, as well as the other circumstances surrounding this incident, remains under investigation," says a Pentagon spokesman. He added that the plane is a rugged one designed to land in "austere locations" where security isn't always great. (Click to read about how the teen who survived a flight from California to Hawaii recalled being above the clouds.)