Fire caused Nimrod crash in Afghanistan: UK inquiry

By Adrian Croft

LONDON (Reuters) - The crash of a reconnaissance aircraft that killed 14 British military personnel in Afghanistan last year was probably due to a fire caused by leaking fuel, an official inquiry concluded on Tuesday.

The 37-year-old Nimrod MR2 was supporting ground forces battling Taliban guerrillas when it caught fire minutes after mid-air refueling. It exploded as it was trying to reach Kandahar airfield.

All on board the aircraft, manufactured by BAE Systems, were killed instantly in the worst single incident for British forces since the Falklands War.

"The cause was a fire that most likely resulted from escaped fuel igniting against a hot pipe," Defence Secretary Des Browne said, briefing parliament on the findings of a Royal Air Force board of inquiry.

He said the ministry of defence had to take responsibility for failings identified by investigators.

"I would like to apologize for these failings to this house," Browne told parliament. "But most of all, to those who lost their lives, and to their families, I am sorry."

The board concluded the escaped fuel that caused the fire most likely came from either a pressure relief device in the main fuel tank or a leaking fuel coupling.

Although Taliban commanders claimed to have brought down the Nimrod, the board of inquiry concluded there was no evidence a surface to air missile or a bomb on board had caused the crash.

The board of inquiry said it could not be absolutely certain of its findings because the presence of Taliban guerrillas made it impossible for investigators to reach the crash site.

It relied on photographs and scraps of wreckage recovered by British soldiers and Canadian troops who held the site for a day before being forced to leave the area.

Browne said he had accepted advice from the air force's top officer that the rest of the Nimrod fleet was safe to fly.

The Nimrod MR1 entered service in 1969 and was updated to the MR2 standard in the late 1970s. It will be replaced by the MRA4, which is expected to enter service from 2010. The Nimrod operates out of RAF Kinloss in the north of Scotland.

Browne said he had ordered a review of the arrangements for ensuring the airworthiness of the Nimrods.

The crash of Nimrod XV230 in Afghanistan in September 2006 was the fifth involving the MR2. Two previous Nimrod MR2 crashes have been blamed on onboard fires and the pilot of the plane that crashed in Afghanistan had also reported a fire on board.

(Editing by Robert Woodward)