LONDON - The families of two of the 14 military personnel killed when their Royal Air Force spy plane exploded in Afghanistan plan to sue the British government over the deaths.
Attorney John Cooper says a writ will be served Monday on Defence Secretary Des Browne accusing the Ministry of Defence of negligence.
It also accuses the ministry of failing to minimize workplace risk and breaching the airmen's right to life as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights.
Tuesday is the second anniversary of the crash.
Cooper says it's the families' argument that the Ministry of Defence had a duty to protect, so far as is practicable, the lives of servicepeople and that it breached that duty.
He said the families believed that the airplane was unairworthy and the Ministry of Defence should have known it was unairworthy.
The Nimrod MR2 was on an intelligence-gathering mission when it exploded following air-to-air refuelling near Kandahar on Sept. 2, 2006. The crash killed 12 crew members, a Royal Marine and an army soldier.
The plane was part of a fleet of 15 aging Nimrod MR-2 aircraft that originally had been due to leave service a decade ago. The planes have suffered a series of fuel leaks and other mechanical problems.
An official inquiry found last year that fuel leaking into a dry bay and igniting against a hot pipe was the most likely cause of the fire that destroyed the plane.
The Ministry of Defence says safety issues with the Nimrod have been addressed and the planes are safe to fly.
However, a coroner investigating the deaths said earlier this year that the entire Nimrod fleet was not air worthy and should be grounded.
The ministry said Sunday it couldn't comment on a potential lawsuit.
