Amazing pictures of an RAF Hercules plane that hit a landmine in Afghanistan. Amazingly, all 31 people onboard the plane managed to escape.....
VIP plane hits landmine
RAF Hercules puts down on runway in the Afghan desert, top left, bursts into flames as it strikes the landmine, top right, and the damaged aircraft is blown up to prevent scavenging by Taliban rebels
By TOM NEWTON DUNN
December 18, 2006
THIRTY Brits and a VIP escaped when their RAF Hercules struck a landmine.
The device was planted on a runway in an Afghan desert airfield in Helmand.
The MoD originally blamed the disaster on a burst tyre, but The Sun can today reveal the real reason. The plane was later blown up to prevent parts being scavenged by Taliban fighters.
British envoy Stephen Evans, 56, escaped unhurt but two bodyguards were seriously wounded. Passengers dashed off the plane down its lowered tail gate.
The aircraft did not carry foam — now standard for C130s in war zones.
thesun.co.uk
VIP plane hits landmine

RAF Hercules puts down on runway in the Afghan desert, top left, bursts into flames as it strikes the landmine, top right, and the damaged aircraft is blown up to prevent scavenging by Taliban rebels



December 18, 2006
THIRTY Brits and a VIP escaped when their RAF Hercules struck a landmine.
The device was planted on a runway in an Afghan desert airfield in Helmand.
The MoD originally blamed the disaster on a burst tyre, but The Sun can today reveal the real reason. The plane was later blown up to prevent parts being scavenged by Taliban fighters.
British envoy Stephen Evans, 56, escaped unhurt but two bodyguards were seriously wounded. Passengers dashed off the plane down its lowered tail gate.
The aircraft did not carry foam — now standard for C130s in war zones.
thesun.co.uk