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'No need' to call off fatal SAS hike, Army medic tells inquest SAS hopeful died 'racing clock' on Brecon Beacons march
(about 4 hours later)
There was no need to call off an SAS selection exercise when a candidate suffered heat illness, an Army medic has told an inquest. One of three SAS candidates who died following a test march collapsed after breaking into a run to make the target completion time, an inquest has heard.
Three men died after overheating on the course on the "boiling hot" day in the Brecon Beacons in July 2013. Cpl James Dunsby alternated "between running and a fast walk" on the final leg of the 16-mile (26km) hike in the Brecon Beacons on 13 July 2013.
But the medic said a candidate, 2P, who suffered heat illness earlier in the day "recovered quite quickly". But he died from overheating, along with L/Cpl Craig Roberts, 24, of Conwy county, and L/Cpl Edward Maher.
L/Cpl Craig Roberts died on the course, L/Cpl Edward Maher and Cpl James Dunsby died in hospital. The inquest heard the march was held on one of the hottest days of the year.
All three men had overheated in temperatures of 27C (80.6F) on what was the hottest day of the year, near Pen Y Fan. Temperatures were expected to hit 27C (80.6F) and Cpl Dunsby, 31, from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, collapsed from heat illness near a main road after his descent from Pen y Fan.
Jonathan Hall QC, representing the Ministry of Defence, asked the medic - known as 1H to protect his identity - whether the situation involving 2P was one where he thought the whole exercise should have been called off. On Monday, a soldier, known by the codename 4Y, told the West Midlands inquest he and Cpl Dunsby had taken it in turns to go ahead as they climbed south Wales' highest peak.
'Observations were fine' He said Cpl Dunsby appeared to be "quite worn down" on the slopes of the mountain but increased his pace.
"I don't believe so, his observations were all OK," 1H replied. "I last saw James after we went over Pen y Fan and came down the other side," he said.
"Apart from the confusion he recovered quite quickly, so I don't think the whole operation should have been stopped because of 2P. "He ran on ahead, saying he could make the time. I said to him 'I'm sorry, I can't, I can't go at that pace' and that is the last time I saw him.
"He (2P) said he recalled not knowing what his job was, but then he told me what he did for a living. "I saw his Bergen (rucksack) bouncing down the track."
"I would say he recovered fully in about 10 minutes. 4Y, who completed the course but missed the cut-off, said he had struggled earlier in the march.
"He was able to take on water orally… I think we gave him a flapjack which helped with his sugars, all his observations were fine. "We were both quite worn down. I just saw him pushing on, as I was, and we were both just in that mindset to get up the hill," he said.
"We just cooled him down in the back of the ambulance and he was fine." Cpl Dunsby died at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 30, 2013, after suffering multiple organ failure caused by hyperthermia.
Soldier 2P told the inquest previously he was "a bit perturbed" by the way the checkpoints - designed to check on the welfare of candidates - were run. The inquest has heard a combat medic and an Army instructor had not read an MoD document giving guidelines on heat illness before the march.
2P said with hindsight, different clothing and more water stops may have improved conditions for candidates that day.
The inquest continues.