AN Army corporal was crushed to death between two armoured troop carriers as he supervised their unloading at a North-East quayside for shipment to the Gulf, an inquest was told yesterday.

Eirion Rees, 32, a corporal with the 1st Battalion, Kings Regiment was "exhausted" after working round-the-clock to prepare the tracked armoured fighting vehicles for operations in Iraq, the Teesside inquest heard.

The second of two armoured fighting vehicles (AFV) to be loaded on to the transporter was being reversed off on to the quayside by Army Sergeant Mark Dev-lin. Then the other, unmanned, armoured personnel carrier on the low loader started to roll backwards.

Corporal Rees, who lived with wife Andrea, 31, in Allenby Close, Catterick Garrison, Richmond, North Yorkshire was standing on the low loader, between the two armoured carriers, signalling to Sgt Devlin, when he was crushed between the 18-ton tracked vehicles.

Accident investigator Police Sergeant David Turnbull reported: "When Sergeant Devlin started the engine of the rear AFV, the forward AFV rolled down the ramp and collided with the rear AFV, trapping Corporal Rees."

Health and Safety inspector Ruth Bolton told the inquest jury: "Vibrations from the rear armoured fighting vehicle transmitted via the trailer, combined with the weight of the vehicle on the incline, led to braking force being lost."

She said forward driving both AFVs on to the trailer, would have "vastly reduced the braking efficiency of the vehicle". But reversing them on to the low loader would have meant gravity pulling them forward, increasing the braking efficiency.

Home Office pathologist Dr Mark Egan said Cpl Rees died of "unsurvivable, internal injuries" consistent with being crushed.

Teesside Coroner Michael Sheffield was told that since the tragedy, in May last year, the Army had issued more explicit instructions on loading and unloading tracked fighting vehicles.

Hauliers contracted to carry military vehicles have instructed their drivers not to unchain both vehicles at once on arrival at a destination.

The inquest continues today.