Two people have died after two firefighting helicopters collided in mid-air near Psatha, north-west of Athens, just hours after Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned that strong winds meant aerial firefighting crews could no longer operate safely.
Greece’s fire service has confirmed that two people died when two firefighting helicopters collided while tackling wildfires near Psatha, north-west of Athens. The victims were the only two people on board one of the aircraft involved in the crash, while the crew of the second helicopter were rescued alive. According to local media, one of those who died was Greek and the other a foreign national. The confirmation of the deaths came just hours after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had publicly warned that extreme winds were making aerial firefighting operations increasingly dangerous.
What is known about the crash
Each of the two helicopters had a crew of two on board at the time of the collision, officials said. Footage filmed by a bystander and released after the crash shows the two aircraft flying close together before crossing paths at low altitude and colliding. According to the fire service, the crew of one helicopter did not survive, while officials said the crew of the other aircraft had been located and were safe, according to Reuters.
A warning issued hours earlier
Only hours before the crash, Mitsotakis had used a Facebook post to warn that Greece’s firefighting aircraft were being pushed to their operational limits by the severity of the winds affecting parts of the country. He said the government had “invested more than ever before” in resources to fight the wildfires sweeping the country, but acknowledged that there were times when weather conditions went beyond what any amount of planning could account for. In the post, he warned that “even the dozens of aerial assets at our disposal cannot operate safely” once winds reach a certain intensity. He added that on several occasions in recent days, extreme turbulence had made it impossible for aircraft to either collect or drop water, meaning that firefighters on the ground had been left to bear the brunt of the fight largely on their own.
Uncertainty over the cause
Officials had already pointed to strong winds as a factor behind the rapid spread of wildfires in the area north-west of Athens where the collision took place. However, the exact weather conditions at the moment the two helicopters crashed, along with the broader circumstances surrounding the collision, remain unclear, and are expected to form a key part of the investigation into what happened.
