A dozen British soldiers have been injured in a major car crash that ended in a vehicle pile-up during a Nato exercise in Estonia.
A total of 17 people were reportedly wounded and rushed to hospital following the collision on a motorway in the northern county of Ida-Viru, near the border with Russia, on Friday.
The soldiers were returning to their base in Tapa during a snowstorm when their minivans were involved in a chain-reaction pile-up triggered by a two-car crash on the Tallinn-Narva highway.
It is understood that 12 British soldiers were injured and taken to hospital after the incident, although the extent of their injuries has not been disclosed.
The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) confirmed to The Independent on Tuesday that eight personnel were flown back to the UK for further treatment, with five of those since discharged and the remaining three still at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
Overall 17 people, including 12 soldiers, were injured and hospitalised in the wreck, the police and Border Guard Board told local newspaper Postimees.
The British soldiers were deployed to Estonia as part of Operation Cabrit, where the UK is leading a multinational battle group to deter Russian aggression in the Baltic states. They work alongside Nato allies from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
In a statement issued on Monday, a spokesperson for the MOD said: “Several British soldiers deployed on Operation Cabrit in Estonia were injured in a road traffic incident last Friday.
“Following hospital treatment in Estonia, eight personnel were flown back to the UK on an RAF C-17 for further treatment.
“Five have since been discharged and three are being cared for at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. We wish them all a speedy recovery.”
