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RAF Herc 'probably shot down' by a missile fired from ground
AN RAF Hercules plane that crashed on the day of the landmark Iraqi elections, killing all ten servicemen on board, was probably brought down by a missile. Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, said in a ministerial statement yesterday that sabotage and a bomb planted on board have been dismissed by an inquiry into the tragedy. Insurgents claimed they hit the transporter from the ground on 30 January, the day of the Iraqi elections. The minister disclosed that an interim report from the Ministry of Defence has ruled out nearly all other reasons for the incident, including sabotage and mechanical problems. An RAF board of inquiry was not yet ready to establish the exact cause of the crash, the MoD said. But it went on to rule out "bird strike, lightning strike, mid-air collision, controlled flight into the ground, wire/obstacle strike, restriction in the aircraft's flying controls, cargo explosion, engine fire, sabotage (including the use of an improvised explosive device) and aircraft fatigue." "There remain a number of other possible causes that require further investigations."
Posted by: Seafarious 2005-03-08 |
