The crash of a reconnaissance aircraft that killed 14 British military personnel in Afghanistan last year was due to a fire probably caused by leaking fuel, an official inquiry concluded today.
The 37-year-old Nimrod MR2 was supporting ground forces battling Taliban guerrillas when it caught fire minutes after mid-air refuelling. It exploded as it was trying to reach Kandahar airfield.
All on board the aircraft were killed instantly in the worst single incident for British forces since the 1982 Falklands War.
"The cause was a fire that most likely resulted from escaped fuel igniting against the 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 must take responsibility for failings identified by investigators.
"I would like to apologise 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 that the escaped fuel that caused the fire most likely came either from 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.