Explorers stand by Noah's Ark Turkey claim

Washington, May 1 (ANI): Some of the members of the search team that claims to have found Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat in Turkey rebutted skepticism over their claims of locating the fabled biblical boat.

According to many Christians, Noah's ark came to rest somewhere in Turkey. In the Bible, the ark protected Noah, his family, and a pair of each species of animal on the planet during a cataclysmic flood.

During a press conference April 25 in Hong Kong, Noah's Ark Ministries International (NAMI) presented their findings and said they were "99.9 percent sure" that a wooden structure found at a 12,000-ft. elevation and dated as 4,800 years old was Noah's Ark.

Samples of wood taken from the structure were carbon dated to 4,800 years old, as per NAMI's website.

However, Dr. Randall Price, an evangelical Christian who was the archeologist for the Chinese-led team in 2008 when it made the alleged discovery, told the Christian Science Monitor that he has "difficulties with a number of issues" related to the announcement.

"If the world wants to think this is a wonderful discovery, that's fine. My problem is that, in the end, proper analysis may show this to be a hoax and negatively reflect how gullible Christians can be," he said.

But members of the Chinese-Turkish team stand by their finding.

"How can a ship be on a mountain?" Yeung Wing-cheung, one of six team members who entered the structure on Mount Ararat last October, told the Monitor.

"The only record of a wooden structure on Mount Ararat is Noah's Ark," Clara Wei, the team coordinator, also said. "So up to now I believe this is the most probable explanation. We don't have another explanation."

"We don't have anything to hide," says Wei.

"You can hire horses to carry bags, but they cannot balance themselves with 20-meter-long timber," says Wei, adding that there was no cultural evidence - such as pottery - that the structure was a former house or church. (ANI)