Two firefighters killed when Greek firefighting helicopters collide amid wildfires
Two crew members died and two were rescued after a mid-air collision of Bell helicopters fighting a wind-driven blaze west of Athens, as Europe grapples with a severe wildfire season.
Two Greek firefighting helicopters collided while battling a fast-moving wildfire in the Psatha area west of Athens on Sunday, killing one Greek and one Danish crew member. The two surviving crew members, a Greek and a British national, were recovered conscious after the crash.
The Bell-type aircraft, each carrying a two-person crew, were part of a larger effort that involved nearly 500 firefighters and 23 aircraft responding to strong winds that pushed flames into western Attica, threatening communities and an industrial zone near Megara. Authorities ordered evacuations of several villages, including Kandili, Agia Skepi and Toutouli, and warned of danger to the coastal town of Porto Germeno.
The incident highlights the heightened risk faced by aerial crews in Europe’s worsening wildfire emergency. In the same period, France’s Gironde megafire burned an area roughly four times the size of Paris, while Spain’s major fires were contained after prompting mass evacuations. The continent recorded more than 10,000 square kilometres of burned land in 2025, the worst year on record, and scientists link the increasing severity of fire weather to human-induced climate change.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was briefed on the operation, and the fire, which began near Agios Vasileios on Friday, had spread over an estimated 40-50 square kilometres according to wildfire meteorologist Theodore Giannaros. Additional wildfires continued to threaten other parts of Greece, including the islands of Kefalonia and Halkidiki.