Two firefighting helicopters collided in Psatha, west of Athens, during Greece wildfires on Sunday, killing a Danish pilot and a Greek fire service liaison officer. The British pilot and a Greek crew member survived and were taken to hospital for treatment.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece was facing extreme weather conditions and warned of “extremely difficult” days ahead. His remarks came earlier on Sunday, before the collision turned the wildfire response in Psatha deadly.
Psatha collision west of Athens
The crash involved two crew members on each helicopter. One helicopter made an emergency landing in an area of low vegetation, and the two people on board that aircraft escaped with minor injuries. The other aircraft was the one in which the Danish pilot and the Greek fire service liaison officer died.
The collision happened during an active response to fires across Greece, where wildfires had broken out in numerous locations in recent days. High winds were said to be likely behind the fires’ rapid growth. That left emergency crews working in difficult conditions even before the helicopters collided over Psatha.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Ursula von der Leyen
Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his “deepest sorrow” after the incident. Ursula von der Leyen said, “It takes a special courage to fly towards the flames so that others can be safe.” She said Europe grieves with Greece and Denmark, and wished the two survivors a “full recovery.”
The British pilot remains one of the two survivors taken to hospital after the collision, alongside a Greek crew member. Their treatment follows a crash that shifted the focus of Greece’s wildfire response from the fires themselves to the risk faced by the crews sent to fight them.
