Two pilots died Sunday when their firefighting helicopters slammed into each other above a wind-driven wildfire west of Athens.
The two aircraft went down in the Psatha area which had leased both Bell helicopters and put a two-person crew on each, according to the Associated Press (AP), citing Greek fire service. Emergency teams pulled all four crew members from the scene. Two of them, a Greek national and a Danish national, were killed, while the other two, a Greek national and a British national, survived, AP reported.
Bystander video that circulated online captured the collision, though its authenticity has not been independently verified. The footage appears to show one helicopter cross paths with a second at low altitude before a rotor strike sends the stricken aircraft down in flames. (RELATED: US Military Fighter Jet Crashes At California Air Base, Pilot Ejected)
The injured pilots were rushed to a hospital but could not be saved. “The pilots…were taken unconscious to hospital, where their death was confirmed,” fire department communications director Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said in a televised address reported by Neos Kosmos.
🇬🇷 Two firefighting helicopters collided midair and crashed west of Athens, while attempting to control a massive wildfire.
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 2, 2026
Initial updates from Greek media indicated the two crew members from one helicopter were safely rescued, while intense searches continued for the remaining… pic.twitter.com/fSdb0NBSqg
Officials grounded every Bell helicopter operating in the area while investigators work to determine what caused the crash, according to Neos Kosmos. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, briefed on the operation, warned Greeks to brace for what he called “extremely difficult” days ahead, the outlet reported.
The collision struck the most dangerous front of a fire emergency that has stretched Greece’s resources thin. Fire that ignited Friday tore through the region and destroyed more than 100 homes, according to Al Jazeera, which reported that a separate blaze near Porto Germeno reached a military firing range and set off unexploded ammunition. Close to 500 firefighters have been deployed, backed by reinforcements from France and Romania.
Sunday’s deaths raised the toll from the week’s fires to five, according to Neos Kosmos, after three firefighters were killed earlier in Crete and the Peloponnese. Record heat and dry conditions have fed wildfires across Greece, France and Spain this summer, the AP reported.
