The US Air Force has been accused of covering up cancer and other diseases suffered by troops who cleared up one of the world’s worst nuclear accidents. In 1966 a B-52 bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs collided with a refuelling aircraft over the village of Palomares in southern Spain. The explosives from two bombs detonated on impact, contaminating an area 2 km sq with plutonium. About 1,600 US Air Force troops were sent to clean up and an investigation has revealed that of the 40 Palomares veterans traced, 21 had cancer, nine of whom had died from it. Today many veterans claim that they are enduring the crippling effects of radiation poisoning. None of the cases of cancer has ever been linked directly by an independent study to the exposure to radiation the veterans claim they suffered. However, in the decades since the accident the USAF has kept radiation test r esults out of the men’s medical files and resisted calls to retest them.
Times 21st June 2016 read more »