A Scottish soldier died and others were seriously injured after their patrol strayed into a minefield in an area where their commanding officer knew there was a danger, an inquest heard yesterday.
A Scottish soldier died and others were seriously injured after their patrol strayed into a minefield in an area where their commanding officer knew there was a danger, an inquest heard yesterday.
Corporal Mark Wright, from Edinburgh, was killed and three men lost legs when the soldiers from the Parachute Regiment encountered the hidden devices.
Cpl Wright, 27, was post humously awarded the George Cross for his heroic efforts to save his men.
A coroner heard yesterday of how the men's platoon commander had known months before the tragedy that the site, in Kajaki, southern Afghanistan, could be mined.
However, he discovered on returning to the location a week after Cpl Wright died that the information he gathered on his first visit had not been recorded on mine maps.
The coroner asked Captain Nicholas French, of the Third Battalion, the Parachute Regiment: "Did you know that the area where this tragedy had occurred was an area which you had previously considered a danger?"
Capt French said: "I couldn't believe I was being sent there with information I thought was incorrect and which had been proven to be incorrect."
He said the paratroopers were there to help a private American security firm defend Kajaki dam from the Taliban. When he first visited the site, in June 2006, he had no information on possible mine locations and an employee from the firm briefed him, taking him to observation points to show him where the main threats were thought to be.
He returned to Camp Bastion, where he passed on the information.
The rules for moving about near Kajaki dam were restricted to identified paths and were so stringent the American security manager, known as "Kajaki John", warned his men: "If you go off this line, I'll shoot you myself."
On September 6, 2006, Cpl Wright was in charge of a sniper patrol heading down a ridge to engage enemy fighters, when the lead man stood on a mine. Cpl Wright entered the minefield and began organising medical attention and a helicopter evacuation.
In the ensuing minutes, seven more members of the patrol were injured while Cpl Wright suffered fatal wounds.
Despite his injuries, he maintained control of the situation for as long as he was conscious, shouting instructions and maintaining morale. He died on the helicopter on the way to the military hospital at Camp Bastion.
The inquest, at Oxford Coroner's Court, is expected to last up to two weeks.
Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that Cpl Wright's family and three of the injured servicemen could receive multimillion-pound payouts from the Ministry of Defence because of the tragedy.
The MoD and MPH Solicitors, representing Cpl Wright's parents, his fiancee, and Cpl Stuart Pearson, Lance Corporal Stuart Hale and Fusilier Andy Barlow, released a joint statement.
It read: "MPH Solicitors and the Ministry of Defence are pleased that a mechanism has been agreed under which settlement of the compensation claims arising from the incident in Kajaki, Afghanistan, will be achieved amicably.
"In doing so the parties have adopted a realistic approach which will negate the need for a potentially traumatic court hearing."
They stressed that the compensation proceedings do not amount to an admission of liability by the MoD.
