British Coroner Faults U.S. in Deaths

A British coroner conducting an inquest into the deaths of eight U.K. servicemen killed when a U.S. Marine Corps CH-46 crashed in the Persian Gulf four years ago said the crash was the result of mechanical failure, according to The Independent of London. The coroner, Andrew Walker, said U.S. failure to cooperate in the probe made his work harder and the grieving families' experience "more harrowing." The Sea Knight went down south of the Kuwait border in March 2003, on the first day of the Iraq war. Four U.S. servicemen also died. U.S. investigators concluded the Marine pilots suffered spatial disorientation. A British Board of Inquiry disagreed, also citing mechanical failure, but the U.K. defense chiefs overruled that and bacled the U.S. finding.  For related news