Six soldiers who died when their armoured vehicle was blown up in Afghanistan stood no chance.
Harrowing details of the horrific explosion, which turned their Warrior armoured vehicle into a fireball, emerged at an inquest.
Three of the six victims were young soldiers from Huddersfield – serving on the Afghan frontline with the 3rd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment.
Their relatives and friends packed the courtroom in Oxford for the start of the two-day hearing.
The Huddersfield victims were Cpl Jake Hartley, 20, of New Mill; Private Anton Frampton, 20, of Longwood; and Private Daniel Wilford, 21, of Cowlersley.
They died along with Sgt Nigel Coupe, 33, Private Daniel Wade, 20, and Private Christopher Kershaw, 19, in Helmand Province on March 6, 2012.
The inquest heard that it was most likely that Sgt Coupe, a member of 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, and his comrades, all members of The Yorkshire Regiment’s 3rd Battalion, were either killed or knocked unconscious by the huge blast, and unaware of what happened afterwards.
The Warrior, known by the call-sign K12, was patrolling with another vehicle when it was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED) about 25 miles north of the capital of Helmand, Lashkar Gah.
The force of the explosion turned it upside down and blew off its gun turret. Ammunition on board the vehicle ignited, causing a fierce fire.
The attack, the deadliest single enemy attack on UK forces in Afghanistan since 2001, was claimed by the Taliban at the time.
The inquest yesterday heard that the patrol was meant to leave earlier that day but was delayed because of a sandstorm. It eventually left just after 6.30pm, and was blown up just minutes later.
Fellow soldiers in a second Warrior vehicle, given the call-sign K13, reported hearing an explosion then seeing a “fireball” as it ignited.
Pte Luke Stones, who was the gunner in the second Warrior, said he heard a “large explosion” just five minutes after leaving the base.
“Around 20m to my front was a large fireball which had flames reaching around it,” he said. “I stood staring at the fireball not really understanding what I was looking at.”
All six men died of blast injuries caused by the explosion. Reports from two pathologists said it was most likely that all six were either killed or rendered unconscious by the blast, leaving them unaware of what happened afterwards.
As they cleared a safe path to the Warrior and tried to put the blaze out, colleagues from the second vehicle described hearing ammunition ignite and ricochet inside the stricken vehicle.
A statement from Pte Aiden Walker said: “I could hear ammunition ‘cooking off’, that’s detonating due to the heat of the fire.
“I believe that no-one in the Warrior was alive and could have survived the explosion.”
His view was shared by Warrant Officer Second Class Eric Whitehouse, who described hearing a series of explosions inside the Warrior as he tried in vain to tackle the blaze using fire extinguishers.
He added: “It was apparent that anyone involved in the explosion could not have survived the blast.”
The inquest heard that an intelligence briefing was given to troops due on the patrol earlier that day, which had included Pte Kershaw despite his late addition to the patrol.
Intelligence officer Staff Sergeant Scot Cooper told the inquest that the IED threat at that time in the area was low.
The troops had all only been in Afghanistan for a few weeks.
The hearing resumes today.
