A soldier has described the moment three comrades were killed when their armoured vehicle was flung 20ft in the air by a massive roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

Corporal William Savage, Fusilier Samuel Flint and Private Robert Hetherington died when their Mastiff armoured vehicle hit an improvised explosive device (IED) during a routine patrol in Nahr-e Saraj, Helmand province, in April.

The commander of the vehicle, Corporal David Gillies, was one of six soldiers who were injured in the blast.

He was among survivors who met the Duke of York when he visited The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment Of Scotland (2 Scots).

Prince Andrew is royal colonel of 2 Scots, the battalion of Cpl Savage, 30, and Fusilier Flint, 21. Pte Hetherington, 25, was a soldier with 51st Highland, 7th Battalion The Royal Regiment Of Scotland (7 Scots).

During his visit to 2 Scots' welfare centre in Penicuik, Midlothian, the Duke held a private meeting with Fusilier Flint's brother, Fusilier David Broughton, and Cpl Savage's wife, Lyndsey, who gave birth to the couple's first child, Connor, last month.

He then met the families of Scottish troops currently serving in Helmand province.

Speaking after Prince Andrew's visit, Cpl Gillies, also of 2 Scots, described the "horrible" moment he learned that three of his friends had died in the bomb blast.

The 27-year-old, from Glasgow, was sitting in the commander's seat at the front right of the vehicle and said the soldiers would have died "instantly" due to the size of the explosion.

"It was massive," he said. "The shockwave was so big it made everybody in the vehicle unconscious. It lifted a 27-tonne armoured vehicle 20ft in the air, so you know it's going to be big.

"I was the first person to wake up from being unconscious. I tried to wake up the driver and shouted into the back if everybody was all right and I could just hear people breathing and screaming."

Cpl Gillies said he did not learn until the next day that three of his comrades had died.

"I was in intensive care in hospital, that's when the commanding officer came in and told us the next day that the guys hadn't made it," he said. "It was horrible, when someone comes in and tells you your pals haven't made it. Cpl Savage I've known since I joined the Army. We were really close."

Cpl Gillies' injuries included a broken ankle, damaged right leg, damaged left knee, splenic laceration and facial scarring.

He said that, with the support of the battalion, he was making a good recovery at home with wife Veronica and their three children – David, eight, Darren, four, and Emily, eight months.