Two Killed as Firefighting Helicopters Collide Battling Greece's Advancing Wildfire

What happened

Two Bell helicopters battling a wind-driven wildfire near Psatha, west of Athens, collided in midair on Sunday, sending one aircraft crashing to the ground on camera. Of the four crew aboard the two aircraft, one Greek and one Danish crew member died, while a second Greek and a British crew member were pulled out alive. The collision hit the most volatile front of a wildfire emergency that has forced fresh evacuations around Athens, while France and Spain together have already displaced roughly a third of a million people from their homes this summer.

• The two helicopters collided over the Psatha area west of Athens in what television footage showed as an apparent rotor collision, per Deutsche Welle.
• Greece's fire service said search-and-rescue teams were mobilized immediately after the crash, per Deutsche Welle.
• Nearly 500 firefighters and 23 aircraft were deployed against the blaze, but gale-force winds reported up to 100 km/h (60 mph) kept some aircraft from reaching the sea to collect water, per the Associated Press and Deutsche Welle.
• Authorities evacuated 254 people by sea from the fire zone on Friday and another 12 on Saturday, per the Associated Press.
• The fire, which began Friday near Agios Vasileios, has burned an estimated 40 to 50 square kilometers according to wildfire meteorologist Theodore Giannaros, though authorities have issued no official figure, per the Associated Press.

What we don't know yet

• The precise cause of the midair collision — pilot error, smoke obscuring visibility, or a wind gust — has not been officially determined.
• The total burned area is unsettled: Giannaros's 40-50 sq km estimate sits alongside a separate National Observatory estimate of about 6,500 hectares (roughly 65 sq km) for fires around the Gulf of Corinth, and no official figure has been issued.

Why it matters

The deaths add to a rising toll among the Greek and foreign aircrews underpinning Europe's aerial firefighting response, straining shared resources that Greece, France and Spain are drawing on simultaneously while wildfires have already displaced roughly 330,000 people across southwestern Europe this summer.

Claims

• ConfirmedTwo Greek firefighting helicopters collided in midair on Sunday while battling a wildfire west of Athens.
• ConfirmedOne Greek and one Danish crew member died in the collision, while a second Greek and a British crew member survived.
• ConfirmedThe two helicopters were Bell aircraft, each carrying a two-person crew, operating over the Psatha area west of Athens.
• ConfirmedNearly 500 firefighters and 23 aircraft were deployed against the wind-driven wildfire near Athens before the collision.
• ConfirmedWildfires in France have forced roughly 224,000 people to evacuate, in what may be the country's largest civilian evacuation outside wartime.