New revelations about a mystery air crash in which British fighter jets are accused of colliding with a passenger plane are flooding the Norwegian press, a week after the government ordered a new inquiry.

The changes in the contours of the metal were easily visible, so I thought: 'This plane has certainly taken a real bump' Technician, Stein Trondsen

The inquiry - the third into the 1982 incident in which 15 people died - will start work on Friday.

It was prompted by a Norwegian television documentary, screened last week, which pointed the finger of blame at a Royal Air Force squadron commanded by the current Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Squire.

Earlier inquiries concluded that the plane, a Twin Otter operated by Wideroee airline, had crashed because extreme turbulence damaged its tail fin.

Damaged harrier

But the television documentary, and subsequent reports in the Norwegian press, add to indications that British Harrier jets may have been involved.

The Otter is widely used in frozen locations

The story has been making the front pages of Norwegian newspapers ever since the programme was screened.

Thursday's edition of Oslo's VG newspaper quotes a ground technician at an airbase near Tromsoe, Stein Trondsen, who says he saw a damaged Harrier in a hangar the morning after the Otter crashed into the sea.

"The damage stretched one to two metres along the fuselage, with extensive depressions and scratches on the metal plates," he said.

"The changes in the contours of the metal were easily visible, so I thought: 'This plane has certainly taken a real bump.'"

A spokesman for the Royal Air Force told BBC News Online that British RAF and Navy Harriers were taking part in Nato exercises in Norway at the time but that they were "at no time in proximity with civilian aircraft".

He added that one Harrier from HMS Invincible landed at Tromsoe on the day of the accident, but that there was no record of it having been damaged.

Emergency landing

Because of the huge interest aroused by the case, a man conducting a private investigation into the incident, Ulf Larsstuvold, has received 600 calls in the past week, the Aftenposten newspaper reports.

If the information that has come out is correct, I cannot believe that Norwegian authorities at a very high level were not familiar with the same information Former head of parliament's armed forces committee, Odd Eriksen

He says a junior technician working at a military radar base in northern Norway told him he saw two Sea Harrier planes flying east towards the Soviet border on the day of the crash, 11 March 1982.

The technician said everyone at the base was ordered to keep the information to themselves.

A northern daily newspaper, Troms Folkeblad, also chips in with sightings of two fighter planes in the region on 11 March.

The documentary screened by Norwegian television quoted a military officer saying that he granted a request by one of two Harriers flying in the far north to make an emergency landing for unspecified technical reasons.

It also interviewed firemen who were on standby as the plane came down at Bardufoss, near Tromsoe - the airbase where Stein Trondsen was employed.

Forbidden territory

Newspapers this week have suggested that if the latest revelations turn out to be true, Norwegian ministers of the period must have been involved in a cover-up.

One MP has been quoted demanding a parliamentary rather than a government inquiry.

People who spoke out about the incident in the 1980s have also been quoted making allegations that they were subject to harassment, including nuisance telephone calls.

Norway had an agreement with the Soviet Union that foreign aircraft would not be permitted to fly east of 24 degrees.

If the latest allegations are correct, the British jets crossed that line.

The Norwegian military has said it will release all documents related to the crash.