The grieving families of 14 British personnel killed when their aircraft crashed in Afghanistan spent the day being comforted as investigations continue into what went wrong.
The burning wreckage of the Nato RAF Nimrod MR2 was found 12 miles west of Kandahar in the south of the country.
A Board of Inquiry investigation has been launched into the cause of the crash but Defence Secretary Des Browne said all the indicators pointed towards an accident, and he dismissed Taliban claims that they had shot down the aircraft as "propaganda".
The reconnaissance aircraft issued an emergency call before disappearing from radar screens, having suffered what was thought to be a technical fault.
All those on board perished, including 12 RAF personnel, one Royal Marine and an Army soldier. None of those who died have been identified but moving accolades came from RAF Kinloss in Moray, Scotland, where the Nimrod was based.
Shortly after the crash, purported Taliban spokesman Abdul Khaliq claimed the plane had been downed by a Stinger missile.
Mr Brown told BBC1's Sunday AM programme: "The Taliban regularly lie in response to events in Afghanistan. It is the heart of their propaganda that they are dishonestly representing what our troops are there to do to the people of Afghanistan. From the earliest time that we knew of this incident, the indications were very clear that this had been some sort of tragic accident."
The Nimrod MR2, which is being joined by the Nimrod MRA4 in 2009, operates at high altitudes and carries out intelligence gathering and eavesdropping operations.
Mr Browne said the RAF had an "exemplary" record when it came to maintaining its aircraft and the Nimrod had a very good safety history. The last significant Nimrod crash occurred 11 years ago when all seven crew on board were killed while carrying out a display at the Toronto airshow.
