LONDON (AFP) — Relatives of 14 British airmen who died when their spy plane exploded in mid-air over Afghanistan voiced anger Friday after the government rejected a coroner's call for all the aircraft to be grounded.
The Ministry of Defence insisted Britain's fleet of Nimrod aircraft are safe after modifications made following the 2006 crash which caused the biggest single military loss of life since the 1982 Falklands War.
"If it was not safe, we would not be flying it; it is safe with the measures we have taken and that is why we will not be grounding the fleet," said armed forces minister Bob Ainsworth.
The reaction came after coroner Andrew Walker, ruling at the end of a three-week inquest, said the victims in the tragedy could not have known that the plane was unsafe.
"The crew and passengers were not to know that this aircraft, like every other in the Nimrod fleet, was not airworthy. The aircraft was never airworthy from the first release to service in 1969," he said.
The reconnaissance aircraft, with its distinctive "double bubble" fuselage and protruding nosecone, exploded shortly after refueling in mid-air on September 2, 2006.
An official inquiry indicated that leaking fuel had ignited on contact with hot pipework, causing the explosion which brought down the plane.
The inquest was told that there was a "fundamental design flaw" in that fuel couplings were near a hot air pipe -- leaving the risk of fuel spilling onto hot pipes and igniting, as is thought to have happened in the 2006 crash.
A ban on mid-air refueling was also ordered, which remains in place.
But Walker, who has previously criticised defence chiefs for not providing adequate equipment to troops during hearings into other military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he had no option but to call for the fleet to be grounded.
"I have given the matter considerable thought and I see no alternative but to report to the Secretary of State that the Nimrod fleet should not fly until the ALARP (as low as reasonably practicable) standards are met," he said.
But the British armed forces minister, while voicing sympathy for families of those who died, rejected the call.
"I have noted the coroner's comments and I will consider them carefully," he said in a statement.
"I would like to reassure all those concerned that the Chief of the Air Staff has reaffirmed to me that the Nimrod is airworthy and that we are dealing with all the issues raised by this incident," he added.
Andy Knight, whose brother Ben died in the crash, said the minister's statement -- read to the relatives immediately after the inquest ended -- was "an insult to everyone in this room, an insult to all the families."
Richard Mitchelmore, who son Leigh died, said: "The MoD are going to do absolutely nothing and these planes will still be flying and these boys will risk their lives every day."
"We just wish people had listened to us earlier. Everyone still flying has been put at risk," added Shona Beattie, whose husband Stephen died.
The father of one of the victims said last October that the RAF was warned about the fire risks on Nimrods two years before the crash in Kandahar province.
The Royal Air Force operates 16 Nimrod MR2 aircraft out of its base at Kinloss in northeast Scotland, while the aircraft are also used at RAF base Waddington in eastern England.
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