In the final push at the end of Mass Effect, my squad was crushed by a flaming flying Mako instead of being airlifted out and witnessing a teary goodbye between Kaiden and my Shep (I romanced him and brought him along to the final push). Instead, a Mako crushes them, and I can see my squad's names (Liara and Kaiden) up on the wall when Garrus puts my name up instead of Kaiden, most likely because a flying Mako squished him.
I've never seen this happen to my squad before in all my playthroughs of the game, the only difference being this one was on my computer instead of my XBox. I did some searching before asking here, and to my surprise there was nothing. I know that ME fans would not overlook this, so now I'm very confused. If it helps, I have the Extended Cut.
Best Answer
If your Effective Military Strength (EMS) is very low (I don't have the exact numbers), the squadmates you bring to the final push will die. AFAIK, this only happens with the Extended Cut DLC installed.