RAF Hercules crash servicemen named

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has released the names of the ten UK service personnel missing, believed killed, in the RAF plane crash in Iraq on Sunday.

They are: Sqn Ldr Patrick Marshall, Headquarters Strike Command; Flt Lt David Stead; Flt Lt Andrew Smith; Flt Lt Paul Pardoel; Master Engineer, Gary Nicholson; Chief Technician, Richard Brown; Flt Sgt Mark Gibson; Sgt Robert O'Connor; Cpl David Williams, all from RAF Lyneham; and Acting L/Cpl Steven Jones from the Royal Signals.

The plane, a C-130K Hercules, crashed around 30km north-west of Baghdad on January around 16:35 local time. It was flying between Baghdad International Airport to Balad airbase.

The crash scene was quickly secured by coalition forces from the US 1st Cavalry Division and US 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

The MoD are still investigating the cause of the crash. However, there has been increasing speculation that the Hercules may have been shot down by Iraqi insurgents.

Arab television network, Aljazeera, broadcast a video from the military wing of the 1920 Revolution Brigades, which purported to show ground to air missiles being fired at a plane, as well as a subsequent explosion and wreckage from a plane on the ground. However, it is not clear whether or not the plane shown was the Hercules concerned and the video did not show missiles actually hitting the plane.

Militant group, Ansar al-Islam, also claimed they were responsible for shooting down the RAF plane in a statement on a website, but the authenticity of the claim could not be verified, Aljazeera reported.

The Sun newspaper also carried a reports, which it claimed came from a "senior Ministry of Defence insider", that a bomb had been planted on the plane.

However, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said yesterday that the MoD was "not in a position to come to any conclusions until the investigation is complete."

(KMcA/SP)