Firefighting operation recently turned tragic when helicopters extinguishing Greek wildfires collided mid-air, claiming two lives. Two-man crew of a chopper were killed on Sunday while dousing a wildfire in the Psatha area west of Athens, according to Greek authorities. The deceased pilots of one of the helicopters were a Dane and a Greek while the crew of the second was successfully rescued.
Each of the two Bell 214ST firefighting helicopters, which had been leased from Australia’s McDermott Aviation, was carrying a two-person crew when the collision occurred. Bell 214ST N511EV (serial 28105, built in 1982) and Bell 214ST N746H (serial 28200, built in 1991) were the two helicopters that met the fatal accident while battling the . Authorities grounded all Bell helicopters in the area pending after the incident, state TV ERT reported.
Video of the deadly collision has gone viral showing one of the choppers colliding with the underbelly of the other helicopter. The lower helicopter crashed to the ground following the impact while the second remained airborne and continued flying despite apparent damage. The helicopters were a part of a fleet of 15 which supported operations in Greece for the past seven years.
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“The pilots…were taken unconscious to hospital, where their death was confirmed,” AP quoted fire department’s director of communications Vassilis Vathrakogiannis as saying. According Vathrakogiannis, 220 forest and agricultural since Monday.
Prime Minister blames ‘adverse weather conditions’ for the tragic crash
The fire service department had deployed hundreds of firefighters to combat the wildfire who were attempting to limit its spread to west of Athens after it scaled a mountain overnight. Following the incident, Hellenic Republic Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed condolences to the families of the victims. In a post on X, he stated, “I express my deepest sorrow for the tragic accident involving the two leased firefighting helicopters that cost the lives of two frontline fighters in the war against the fires under highly —especially for our aerial assets.”
He added, “The loss of the Greek coordinator and the Danish pilot while they were operating in the major fire at Porto Germeno fills us all with grief. Sincere condolences to their families.”
The death toll from Greek wildfires climbed to five after the recent incident. It follows death of three other firefighters who died in Crete and the Peloponnese. As per the meteorological department, nearly 6,500 hectares (16,000 acres) had been burned in separate fires on the Gulf of Corinth which also swept Porto Germeno. The National Observatory’s climate tracker meteo.gr further noted that atmospheric conditions remained adverse “mainly due to strong northerly winds, which, however, have partially weakened compared to previous days”.
