Britain apologises over submarine deaths

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-25 14:07

LONDON -- The government has apologised to the families of two sailors killed in an explosion aboard a nuclear submarine, after a coroner blamed "systemic failures" for the blast.

A Ministry of Defence-issued handout photo shows submarine HMS Tireless surrounded by ice. The government has apologised to the families of two sailors killed in an explosion aboard a nuclear submarine, after a coroner blamed "systemic failures" for the blast. [Agencies]

Armed forces minister Bob Ainsworth "unreservedly" apologised "for the avoidable failings, for which this department is responsible, which brought about this tragic incident" aboard HMS Tireless in March 2007 on Tuesday.

After a six-week inquest, coroner Derek Winter recorded a narrative verdict, saying "systemic failures led to the contamination and damage" of the oxygen generators on board "which in turn caused the explosion".

Operator mechanic Anthony Huntrod, 20, and leading operator mechanic Paul McCann, 32, were killed by the explosion in a forward compartment of the submarine while it was on exercise in the Arctic.

The blast was caused by a damaged self-contained oxygen generator (Scog), which one of the men had activated moments earlier and would normally have released oxygen when fired.

During the inquest, Winter heard that a batch of almost 1,000 Scogs left in a hazardous waste depot in Devonport naval base, in southwest England, had been returned into service in 2006 as a cost-cutting measure.

He said it was impossible to know if the Scog which exploded on HMS Tireless was one of those sent to the dump, but said it was "a significant possibility".

Winter criticised the Ministry of Defence's handling of the Scogs, saying they were not properly inspected, left in the open air, roughly handled and badly stored on board.

"There was a culture of complacency regarding the risks posed by Scogs and a tolerance of practices likely to increase those risks," he said.

Winter criticised the decision to reissue the Scogs from the dump, saying: "Those systemic failures led to the contamination and damage, in turn, caused the explosion."

Ainsworth said the MoD and the Royal Navy were "committed to doing everything possible to prevent any recurrence of this tragedy" and "lessons have already been learned".

Huntrod and McCann were trapped with colleague Richard Holleworth for 44 minutes after the blast. Crew members tried to break open the hatch doors which had buckled, but by the time they got through the pair were dead. Holleworth was injured but survived.

The submarine was not badly damaged in the explosion and remained seaworthy.

Responding to the verdict, Huntrod's father Alan praised the crew's efforts to save his son but accused the MoD of treating its personnel "like dirt" and condemned its provision of "second-hand, recycled equipment".