UPDATE: Preliminary investigation reveals burnt-out plane in St Elizabeth registered in Venezuela
ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — Local aviation officials are set to make contact with their Venezuelan counterparts as they continue their probe into the burnt-out plane found in St Elizabeth on Friday night.
This latest development follows the discovery among the wreckage of a partial registration number, YV, which is the aircraft registration prefix for Venezuela.
OBSERVER ONLINE also understands that the aircraft and engine data plates appeared to have been removed, as investigators did not find them. It has also been revealed that checks made by the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority showed that the aircraft did not operate from any of the island’s airports.
The contact with INAC, the Venezuelan Civil Aviation Authority, is to trace the aircraft to an owner.
The wreckage of the aircraft was found in a swamp in the Elim/Braes River area, northeast of Santa Cruz.
The area, which forms part of the upper Black River Morass, is reputed to have been used as a landing site for small aircraft decades ago when the ganja export trade flourished.
A police source told Observer Online that on Saturday, bamboo with lights attached were reportedly seen on either side of a road used as a makeshift airstrip.
A preliminary probe into the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the burnt-out aircraft included a theory that the plane might have been involved in suspicious activity.
READ: UPDATE: Suspicious Activity Suspected in Burnt-Out St Elizabeth Aircraft Probe
— Kasey Williams