Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
Mayor of Brecon: "The community will be devastated by this news"
Investigations are continuing into the deaths of two soldiers on a training exercise on the hottest day of the year in the Brecon Beacons.
They were serving with the Territorial Army, the BBC understands.
A third soldier is in a serious condition after Saturday's incident in Powys, which is thought to have been linked to the hot weather.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) refused to comment on reports they were taking part in an SAS selection process.
End Quote Mark Moran Central Beacons mountain rescueWe were working alongside military personnel who remained extremely calm and professional during this tragic incident"
The Brecon Beacons is home to the Infantry Battle School and makes up one of Britain's largest military training areas.
The MoD has released little information about the two soldiers who died, but BBC News understands they were with the TA.
An investigation is focusing on the weather conditions and the nature of the exercise.
The deaths occurred on the hottest day of the year so far in Wales, with temperatures reaching 30C (86F) in Powys.
It is understood live ammunition was not involved.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
Colonel Richard Kemp: 'If we soften up too much we get far more casualties on actual war fighting operations"
The MoD said it was working with Dyfed-Powys Police.
A statement added: "The two servicemen's next of kin have been informed. More information will be released in due course but it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage."
The Brecon Beacons national park is used for military training because of its relative remoteness.
'Meltingly hot'The infantry regiments of the British Army train at Sennybridge in the area and there is an Army base in Brecon.
Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats and AM for Brecon and Radnorshire, said it was a "meltingly hot" day in the area on Saturday.
She added: "It's very, very sad to think that people that were serving with our armed forces have lost their lives in this way."
Ms Williams said it was a beautiful area which could also be very "treacherous" and the military trained there "for a reason".
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
Two local people, one a former serviceman, explain how the military like to use the Brecon Beacons for training exercises
She said she hoped "any lessons that can be learned from this tragedy will be learned".
About 30 members of the four south Wales mountain rescue teams (MRTs) were called out to help in the emergency on Saturday near Pen y Fan.
Col Mike Dewar, a defence analyst, told BBC Radio Wales he found it difficult to understand what happened in apparently "perfect conditions".
He said the training session may have been pre-booked a long time before, and the soldiers would have been warned to take plenty of water in the hot weather conditions.
He said "all sorts of training takes place there" - from special forces to regular servicemen and women - and the soldiers may have been carrying heavy packs.
'Incredibly sad'Col Richard Kemp, former infantry commander, told the BBC Breakfast programme that the Brecon Beacons were valued by the military for training because they were hard to navigate and cross on foot and provided extremes of heat and cold.
He said soldiers on special forces selection were likely to be operating alone which made it harder for signs of heat exhaustion to be spotted quickly.
He said: "When you begin to get engulfed by heat illness, your thought processes blur.
"The staff at the check points should be looking to see if anybody is having particular problems."
Mark Moran, from Central Beacons MRT, said: "We were working alongside military personnel who remained extremely calm and professional during this tragic incident.
"Our thoughts are now with the families of those involved."
Mayor of Brecon and Powys county councillor Matthew Dorrance said: "It's incredibly sad for the friends and family of the people who have lost their lives and thoughts are with the person who is injured.
"In one way we've been blessed with the weather but for people working in this heat, they're tough conditions."
Mr Dorrance said local people regularly saw troops training in the area and were "proud of our links with the military".
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
TA soldiers' deaths investigated
Dengan url
http://sarapanoatmeal.blogspot.com/2013/07/ta-soldiers-deaths-investigated.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
TA soldiers' deaths investigated
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
TA soldiers' deaths investigated
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar