Two firefighting helicopters collided while battling a wildfire in the Psatha area west of Greece’s capital, Athens, on Sunday, with the fire department saying that a rescue operation has been launched to locate the crew.
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Television footage showed one of the helicopters exploding and plunging to the ground in flames after an apparent rotor collision.
The incident comes as Greece faced multiple fronts and a growing toll of damage, with wildfires believed to have devastated swathes of forest and agricultural land, and the prime minister warned of “extremely difficult” days ahead.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece was experiencing “extreme weather conditions” with winds reaching 100 kilometres (60 miles) an hour.
Nearly 500 firefighters were battling blazes around the popular coastal village of Porto Germeno, some 70 kilometres northwest of Athens, the fire department said.
They were attempting to keep the fire from approaching the western outskirts of Athens after it scaled a mountain overnight.
Some 100 firefighters were fighting another blaze in Aigialia in the northern Peloponnese.
The National Observatory’s climate tracker, meteo.gr, said early estimates indicated that over 6,500 hectares (16,000 acres) had been burned in separate fires on the Gulf of Corinth, which also swept Porto Germeno.
It added that meteorological conditions remained adverse “mainly due to strong northerly winds, which, however, have partially weakened compared to previous days”
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“Search and rescue teams were immediately mobilised to locate and assist the crews,” the fire service said.
State broadcaster ERT reported that one crewmember had been found safe, while rescuers were searching for the second.
Match Outlook
“There are moments when nature and the intensity of weather phenomena surpass any human planning and any operational capability,” he added.
