TRABZON (MSNBC) – No documentation or information backing media claims that a light plane that crashed in Turkey’s north east on Sunday has come to light, the governor of the Black Sea province of Trabzon said late Thursday.
Responding to reporters questions after meeting with Iran’s Deputy Consul General Mehdi Marzdar in Trabzon, Okutan said that a technical committee had been investigating the accident and that a report had been prepared.
Soon after the crash, some Turkish media said that the plane, which was en route from Trabzon to the Iranian city of Tabriz, had been carrying an illegal cargo of nuclear material. “We have no document or information reaffirming the claims,” Okutan said.
The aircraft, piloted by Michael Newman of the UK and Pakistani national Pakistani B. Bhangoo, disappeared soon after taking off from Trabzon airport Sunday, where it had landed to refuel on Thursday.
The plane had been forced to wait on the ground for three days due to bad weather before resuming its trip. Following an intense search, he wreckage of the plane and the bodies of Newman and Bhangoo were found on May 15.
