An Army helicopter crash in Bosnia which claimed the life of a Colchester pilot was caused by a mechical fault, an inquest heard.

A coroner's court was told on Tuesday Captain Philip Jarvis, 27, of Colchester, was killed when a failure in one of the gears caused the helicopter to plummet to the ground.

Giles Kavanagh, representing GKN Westland which made the gears, said in 1996 the company recommended increasing inspections of these parts, but added this had not been done by the Ministry of Defence.

The accident happened minutes after the Lynx helicopter had left the Nato base at Gornji Vakuf on December 22, 1998.

Army and medical staff at the base rushed to help the crew but Mr Jarvis suffered internal haemorrhaging and fractured ribs and died at the scene.

Sgt David Kinsley, of Woodbridge, Suffolk, died later the same day at a Bosnian hospital.

The third serviceman Cpl Christopher Addis, 26, was flown to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol but died week later.

All three men were in 669 Squadron attached to 4 Regt Army Air Corps based at Wattisham Airfield, which was providing aviation support to ground troops.

Engineer flight safety officer Major George Henderson, who investigated the accident, said the third shaft in the gears of the helicopter rota drive had cracks runnning through it causing it to suffer a catastophic failure.

He said other aircraft had similar but less serious faults and this was the first to cause a fatal accident.

He said the Army would replace the third gear with a new model and helicopters using the existing equipment would be more regularly checked wth X-ray machines for cracks.

Coroner Bill Walrond recorded a verdict of accidental death at the inquest at Bury St Edmunds Coroner's Court.

A gear shaft failure killed Captain Philip Jarvis, pictured

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