THE Ministry of Defence (MoD) faces official censure over the deaths of three soldiers on an SAS training exercise in July 2013, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) announced yesterday.

Six soldiers collapsed in the Brecon Beacons suffering from heat exhaustion after they were ordered to carry weighted packs and rifles up and down a 2,900ft mountain in 29.5°C (85.1°F) heat.

One soldier died while on the march and two others succumbed later.
Recording narrative verdicts at an inquest in Solihull in July 2015, senior coroner Louise Hunt said that all three

would have survived if Ministry of Defence regulations on heat illness had been followed.

“Specialist military units rightly need to test rigorously the fitness and resilience of potential candidates,” said HSE head of operations Neil Craig.

“The MoD has a duty to manage the risks during training exercises. It failed to do so on this occasion.”