Investigators got their first hard look Thursday at the wreckage of the light plane found near Penticton after being missing for more than a week.
The four occupants of the Piper PA24 Comanche were found dead at the crash site on Apex Mountain.
The plane had left Penticton on Aug. 17 with a pilot and three passengers, but disappeared en route to Victoria.
“While the purpose of the flight is not known at this time, RCMP investigators have examined the contents of the aircraft and nothing of police interest was located,” police said in a release.
Officials from the Transportation Safety Board spent Thursday trying to figure out what caused the plane to go down.
The fact that few trees around the crash site were damaged suggests the plane took a nosedive and dropped into the forest, TSB regional manager Bill Yearwood said.
Though RCMP have yet to release the passengers’ names, the pilot has been identified as Kelowna businessman Rama Tello. The passengers were his brother and two friends.
The Province reported that Tello was linked to individuals in the drug trade. But earlier stories that the plane may have been carrying drugs has upset his family and friends.
“Rama loved his family with every part of his being and will be sorely missed,” said Jen Pope, part of Tello’s extended family.
Friend Teri Wilson said Tello was a great father to his seven-year-old son. “He was funny, he was full of life,” she said. “He was always a good guy.”
She said that Tello had only recently obtained his pilot licence, and owned the Piper. She understood that the other two passengers on the plane were brothers as well.
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