Two leased BELL firefighting helicopters collided while battling the major Attica–Boeotia wildfire near Psatha, leaving a Danish pilot and a Greek flight coordinator dead.
According to the Greek Fire Service, the two helicopters carried a total of four crew members two Greek nationals and two foreign nationals.
Two of the occupants were rescued alive, while the other two were recovered unconscious and transported by ambulance. Authorities later confirmed they had died.
The survivors are a British helicopter pilot and a Greek flight coordinator, while the victims are a Danish pilot and a Greek flight coordinator.
Search and rescue teams from the Greek Fire Service were immediately deployed, with Fire Service Chief Lieutenant General Theodoros Vagias coordinating operations from the scene.
The helicopters had taken off from Elefsina Airport before the collision occurred during aerial firefighting operations.
The exact cause and circumstances of the mid-air collision remain under investigation by the competent authorities.
Source: ANA-MPA
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