Depicted on the tarmac, the RAF plane STILL landed in Turkey expecting to be loaded with crucial PPE

First photographed empty and stuck on the Istanbul airport runway, this is the RAF transport aircraft that remains grounded in Turkey while waiting to collect 84 tons of desperately needed PPE supplies.

The Atlas A400 remains unloaded, sources told MailOnline, with vital life-saving equipment nowhere in the airport as Turkey struggles with its growing coronavirus crisis.

The plane, which the government promised would return to Britain on Sunday, did not land in Istanbul until Monday at 9:10 p.m. local time. An airport worker said he had technical problems, but RAF sources denied it.

The transport flight has been haunted by delays and confusion. The ministers later stated that it would arrive yesterday, but it is still downloaded and has not yet taken off, as revealed by MailOnline images.

A leading RAF source confirmed: “The RAF has previously positioned the Atlas A400M to ensure air travel is available when PPE is delivered, which we hope in the near future.”

Ministers have blamed “challenges on the Turkish end” for the problems, but Istanbul has responded that Britain only asked for help with the shipment on Sunday.

Fury over the shortage of coronavirus PPE rose this week amid claims the government was ignoring companies’ offers of help, and millions of pieces of PPE are still being shipped outside the UK despite the shortage.

A British supplier said it was forced to sell millions of life-saving items abroad after attempts to equip the NHS were met with an ‘impenetrable wall of bureaucracy’, while other companies complained that they had no ‘ option ‘to send masks and respirators abroad because the government had repeatedly ignored offers of help.

Bill Esterson, a Labor MP from Sefton Central, said today that one of his constituents offered to make 10 million masks on March 27, but never received a response, and when the MP wrote to the government itself, he also received no response.

Downing Street rejected claims that it ignored the companies’ offers, while local government minister Simon Clarke said there is a “permanent presumption” that the government will do everything possible to buy PPE “wherever it can. obtain “and urged manufacturers to” contact “the Cabinet Office to record their ability to manufacture equipment.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has endeavored to present his country’s performance in handling the pandemic as one of the most effective in the world, while maintaining tight control over the flow of information.

But records of deaths in Istanbul suggest that the crisis in Turkey is far greater than its authorities admit, and the New York Times reported 2,100 more deaths were reported between March 9 and April 12.

With some hospitals turning to scrubbing medical gowns for reuse and doctors warning that they may have to stop treating patients, ministers have been desperately downplaying expectations about the shipment.

When asked about the situation, Community Minister Simon Clarke told BBC Radio 4’s Today program: “Obviously he will be with us in the UK in the coming days, which is the top priority.”

The row was expanded today amid claims that millions of pieces of PPE are still being shipped outside the UK despite the shortage.

A British PPE supplier told the Post that they were forced to sell millions of life-saving items abroad after attempts to equip the NHS were met with an “impenetrable wall of bureaucracy.”

The company said the UK procurement system was “insensitive at best or incompetent at worst” and the delays were putting lives at risk.

Other companies told the Telegraph that they had no “option” to send masks, respirators, and other equipment abroad because the government had repeatedly ignored offers of help.

Clarke said there is a “permanent presumption” that the government will do everything possible to buy PPE “wherever it can be obtained” and urged manufacturers to “contact” the Cabinet Office to record their ability to make equipment.

But the Cabinet Office’s secret minister, Rachel Reeves, told the Today program that she had been “inundated” with manufacturers who have contacted the government offering to do PPE but have received no response.

“There are many, many companies across the country that may have laid off workers but have the capacity and capacity and skills to make this personal protective equipment and clothing, particularly gowns, but have received no response from the government.

‘Some of them do it on an ad hoc basis for local hospitals or nursing homes, but this must be systematic; It must be a national effort, using our full manufacturing and textile capabilities to ensure that doctors and nurses and care workers … have that equipment and clothing they need. ‘

Chancellor Rishi Sunak told the Downing Street briefing that the government is looking for “every possible option” around the world to boost supplies.

Mr. Sunak said the UK and other countries face an “international challenge” to obtain the equipment and that ministers are “working hard to obtain the PPE that our frontline NHS and welfare personnel need.”

He said Britain is still “working to resolve the Turkish shipment of EPP as soon as possible”, but could not say when it will arrive. He revealed yesterday that a shipment of 140,000 Myanmar dresses was unloaded in the UK.

One of the three RAF planes that have been on hold left Brize Norton in Oxfordshire yesterday afternoon, but the return trip has reportedly not yet started.

Officials in Istanbul told Sky News that “there was never a problem from the Turkish authorities” and that “all permits have been issued very quickly.”

The delays come with hospitals warning they are about to run out of some items, and medical agencies say doctors may need to make “difficult decisions” between exposing themselves to the virus or “letting a patient die on call.”

The trusts have accused the ministers of raising the hopes of health personnel by saying they had a promised “bitter experience” of PPE, either that they did not arrive or that they turned out to be a faulty or incorrect kit.

Michelle van Vuuren, who runs a London-based real estate company, turned her business into an EPP distributor working with Chinese suppliers last month when the virus began to spread worldwide.

After unsuccessful attempts to contact the NHS procurement services, Ms. van Vuuren contacted the office of Health Secretary Matt Hancock on March 20.

She was subsequently sent to the Cabinet Office, but her inquiries were “in a vacuum” and were met with an automatic response.

The deputy chief medical officer faced a backlash yesterday after she claimed people are not being “grown-up” because of EPP supplies.

Dr. Jenny Harries criticized critics of the government’s efforts to ensure that front-line workers have access to the gowns, gloves, and masks they need to protect themselves against the coronavirus.

She said there had to be a “more mature and detailed conversation about PPE supplies” as she insisted that the UK was an “international example in the making.”

But health care chiefs said they had been “sounding the alarm” about the apparent lack of PPE available in some settings “for months.”