THE MoD has repeatedly come under scrutiny for its handling of fitness testing following a series of tragedies.
Alongside our report on the case of 26-year-old Corporal Josh Hoole, here is a timeline of the incident, and similar incidents, that occurred while training.
July 13, 2013: Three army reservists die in the Brecon Beacons from fatal heat illnesses. With the temperature rising to 31C, SAS reservists Lance Corporal Craig Roberts, Lance Corporal Edward Maher and Corporal James Dunsby all succumb to fatal heat illness during a 16-mile SAS training march.
June 18, 2015: Rifleman MJ Evans takes part in an Annual Fitness Test in Padeborn, Germany. Half way through the test, a student collapses and others are struggling. At 7.3miles, Rifleman Evans is seen to "wobble" as though drunk, but says he is fine. He collapses a short time later. His cause of death is later recorded as Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.
July, 2015: Senior Coroner Louise Hunt concludes the 2013 fatalities happened following a "catalogue of errors" by those who oversaw the march in the south Wales. She writes to the MoD to highlight lessons to be learned.
July 19, 2016: 41 soldiers set off an eight-mile route march in Brecon Beacons, each in full uniform and each carrying 55lb packs. At 8:30am two soldiers collapse, one with his "eyes rolling back". At the halfway stage, ten withdraw. At 8:52am, Cpl Hoole falls behind and collapses, just 400m from the finish. He is pronounced dead a short time later.
July 19 July, 2016. An expert tells the inquest that a temperature reading of 17C taken before the march was "erroneously low" because the equipment used was positioned in the shade.
November, 2019: Senior Coroner Louise Hunt issues a "prevention of future deaths report" highlighting that the Josh Hoole tragedy raises similar and additional concerns to those arising from the 2013 deaths, identified in her earlier Regulation 28 report. "There is a serious concern that lessons have not been learnt from past tragedies and there appears to be a failure to address serious safety concerns on the part of the MOD," she writes.
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