Iraq bridge unguarded as Liverpool marine killed

Nov 20 2007

A ROYAL Marine from Liverpool was among four British servicemen who died in Iraq because other units could not spare men to guard a bridge their boat was passing under, an inquest heard yesterday.

Corporal Ben Nowak, 27, from Speke, was with six other men on a rigid raiding craft travelling amongst a convoy of three boats on the Shatt al-Arab river when insurgents detonated a makeshift explosive mounted on the bridge.

Captain Richard Morris, in charge of 539 Assault Squadron’s boat group, said the attack on November 12 last year was the first of its kind since the Iraq invasion in 2003 in which coalition troops had been killed on a boat operating on Basra’s waterways.

His unit was tasked with transporting military staff between Basra Palace and the Shatt Al Arab Hotel, two British bases. The stricken boat was in a convoy of three vessels, going second so the other two craft could keep watch either side.

“Boats were the favoured way of moving along the waterway because, at the time, boats had never been targeted,” Capt Morris told the inquest at Oxford

“It was perceived to be the safest means of travel.”

Other units were not able to spare men to secure the bridge for vessels passing underneath.

However, after the deaths, which were caused by projectile wounds following an explosion, resources were made available.

“So it takes four people to lose their lives before this can happen?” coroner Andrew Walker asked.

“Sadly yes, that’s right,” said Capt Morris.

Mr Nowak, of 45 Commando Royal Marines, died with Warrant Officer Lee Hopkins, 35, of the Royal Corps of Signals, a married father of one from Wellingborough; Staff Sergeant Sharron Elliott, 34, of the Intelligence Corps, originally from Ipswich, Suffolk; and Marine Jason “Jay” Hylton, 33, of 539 Assault Squadron Royal Marines, a divorced father of two, from Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire.

Marine Richard Turner, of 539 Assault Squadron, among three other UK service personnel on board who survived, said: “I remember a flash and a loud bang. There was a big cloud of smoke and it just did not seem like it was real. I looked over the rest of the boat and it was just bodies and blood.”

He added: “I looked to my left and Jason (Hylton)’s body was slumped in his seat. I then realised there was a lot of blood coming from my arm, and my face was in pain.”

The cause of the deaths was projectile wounds caused by an explosion, coroner Andrew Walker said.

The public was later excluded from the hearing which was adjourned until today while evidence deemed sensitive by the Ministry of Defence was heard.