Two firefighting helicopters collide near Athens, killing two crew members as wildfires burn over 10,000 hectares

The collision

Two helicopters taking part in a firefighting operation west of Athens collided on Sunday afternoon near the coastal village of Psatha. Both machines had taken off from Elefsina air base to support ground crews battling a large wildfire that had been burning since Friday. Video posted on social media, whose authenticity has not been officially confirmed, shows the helicopters approaching each other at low altitude; the rotor of the lower aircraft appears to strike the underside of the second. One helicopter crashed to the ground and burst into flames, while the other jettisoned its water load and flew away from the scene.

“During a firefighting operation in the Psatha area, two helicopters taking part in the mission collided. Forces were immediately mobilised for a search-and-rescue operation for the crews, which is currently underway.”

Casualties and rescue

Rescue teams located the two-person crew of one helicopter alive and conscious. They were transported by ambulance to the Air Force Hospital in Athens; their condition was not immediately disclosed. The search for the second helicopter and its crew continued for several hours. The fire service later confirmed that both occupants of the second aircraft had died. According to the Associated Press, citing the fire service, the fatalities were a Greek and a Danish national, while the rescued crew members were a Greek and a British national. Foreign crews frequently assist Greece during the summer wildfire season.

The wildfire's scale

The fire began on Friday near Agios Vasileios, about 80 kilometres northwest of Athens, and spread toward Porto Germeno and the Megara area. By Sunday it had burned more than 100 homes, according to local reports. The Greek daily Protothema estimated that over 10,000 hectares of forest and farmland had been destroyed; other sources put the figure at more than 12,000 hectares over the past week. The flames crossed a mountain range and reached the village of Veniza as well as a military training area, where unexploded ordnance ignited. Firefighters concentrated on preventing the fire from reaching the coastal town of Megara, home to about 30,000 people, and authorities ordered evacuations of several settlements in western Attica, including an industrial zone on the outskirts of Megara.

Government response

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis addressed the crisis on Sunday, describing the situation as extremely difficult. He said that in recent days, strong winds had prevented firefighting aircraft from reaching the flames or even scooping water from the rough sea.

“There are moments when the force of nature and extreme weather conditions exceed all human plans and operational capabilities.”

Mitsotakis pledged that authorities would intensify damage assessments and provide support to those affected. He stressed that protecting human life remained the absolute priority, followed by property and forest ecosystems. Two men were arrested on Sunday on suspicion of unintentionally starting the fire; investigators believe sparks from cables connecting a private wind farm to the main power grid ignited the blaze.

Wider fire emergency

New fires also broke out on the tourist island of Kefalonia, where flames near the village of Pastra forced the overnight evacuation of seven nearby settlements. The broader southern European wildfire season has been fuelled by record temperatures, prolonged drought, and increasingly frequent extreme weather events, scientists have noted. While the situation in France and Spain had begun to stabilise in recent days, Greece faced a renewed and exceptionally difficult wave of fires.