Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition demanding answers around the Chinook disaster that claimed 29 lives more than 30 years ago.
A total of 25 senior intelligence experts, as well as four special forces crew, were killed when an RAF Chinook ZD576 helicopter crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in western Scotland.
The aircraft was on route from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to Fort George, located near Inverness, in June, 1994. Initially, the incident was blamed on pilot error before that decision was later overturned in 2011.
Investigating the tragedy, the BBC ran a documentary last year – named Chinook: Zulu Delta 576 – which revealed that related files had been sealed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for 100 years.
Families of the victims were left distraught in the aftermath of the crash, and have since gone on to accuse the MoD of a ‘cover-up’, calling on the release of all documents and a judge-led public inquiry into the matter.
They have demanded the UK Government introduce a legal ‘duty of candour’ on all public bodies to ensure “no family has to ever battle for the truth again”.
“Twenty-nine people boarded Chinook ZD576 on 2 June 1994, sll of them died,” the petition, signed by more than 25,000 people, reads. “31 years later, we – their families – still have no answers. We have been denied truth, transparency and justice by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
“Our loved ones were forced to board an RAF helicopter with fatal software flaws that MoD test engineers had deemed ‘positively dangerous’ and ‘not to be relied upon in any way whatsoever’.
“We know key evidence was withheld or ignored in previous investigations. Former ministers say they were misled by the MoD and doubt airworthiness issues were investigated properly.”
The BBC has decided to re-air the documentary this month, a decision that has been welcomed by the families, with the first part airing this Sunday (August 17) at 9pm on BBC 2, and the second a week later.
Relatives have formed The Chinook Justice Campaign and they have continued to demand transparency from the MoD.
Esme Sparks, who lost her father Major Gary Sparks in the incident, encouraged further support for the petition to prevent similar cases of “secrecy and wrongdoing” in the future.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the MoD responded: “The Mull of Kintyre crash was a tragic accident, and our thoughts and sympathies remain with the families, friends and colleagues of all those who died.
“The accident has already been the subject of six inquiries and investigations, including an independent judge-led review.
“The closed records held at The National Archives contain personal information relating to third-party individuals. The early release of this information would breach those individuals’ data protection rights.”