THE Ministry of Defence was heavily criticised today over the death of 14 airmen in Afghanistan, including Bridgwater’s Sgt Ben Knight.

Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth delivered an independent report to parliament that highlighted a number of safety failures by the RAF that led to the Nimrod spy plane exploding over Kandahar in 2006.

Two RAF personnel have been singled out for heavy criticism but were not named, nor did the review hear where they had been based.

Bridgwater’ MP Ian Liddell-Grainger was present in parliament to hear the review. He said: “It was a horrific report.

“It shows there was a catastrophic meltdown in the system. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.

“It’s heartbreaking that those young lives were lost unnecessarily. Those Nimrod planes should never have been in the air.

“The government acted absolutely correctly by accepting there were endemic failures.”

Mr Liddell-Grainger said after hearing Mr Ainsworth’s statement, he asked the Defence Secretary why it had taken so long for the review to be published.

He added: “There’s nothing that will bring Ben back but it’s absolutely vital that when we have these tragedies, the government goes through the review process as quickly as possible for the sake of the families.”

A new fleet of aircrafts is being readied to replace the Nimrod although it could be years before the new planes are used in operations.