Two crew killed as firefighting helicopters collide in Greece

Video footage of a mid-air collision some 65 km west of Athens shows one Bell helicopter striking the propellers of another, causing the second aircraft to burst into flames before plunging into a ravine. The accident, which occurred on Sunday, resulted in the immediate grounding of every Bell helicopter across Greece.

The crash killed a Danish pilot and a Greek fire service liaison officer. Two other crew members—a British pilot and a Greek coordinator—survived after their aircraft made an emergency landing in an area of low vegetation. Both survivors sustained minor injuries and were admitted to a hospital for 24 hours of observation, according to a source from the civil protection ministry via the BBC.

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The aircraft involved were not state-owned but were leased from the Australian-based company McDermott Aviation. The surviving British pilot was a private hire and was not part of a government-to-government aid request or an official exchange between the UK and Greece, the BBC reported.

The collision happened as crews fought a large wildfire on the Attica-Boeotia border. ITV News reported that gale-force winds had crippled the response, preventing some aircraft from reaching the sea to collect water. These violent gusts drove flames through dry forest and threatened an industrial district outside Megara.

The grounding of the Bell fleet occurred while Greek authorities were engaged in what media reports described as a titanic battle across Porto Germeno, Psatha, Fokida, Megara, and Kefalonia. In these regions, more than 500 firefighters have spent the last 72 hours attempting to contain the blazes.

In Porto Germeno, a seaside community on the Gulf of Corinth, firefighters had to evacuate 254 people by sea on Friday and another 12 on Saturday because fire and smoke had cut off the few available roads.

While the Bell fleet is offline, other assets remain active:

• Erickson Air-Crane helicopters
• Chinook helicopters
• Canadair water-bombing aircraft

The environmental conditions fueling these fires are the result of a specific cycle: a mild and wet winter encouraged vegetation growth, which then dried out in successive hot spells, providing ample fuel for the blazes. Meteorologist Theodore Giannaros estimated that the blaze had affected 40 to 50 square kilometers, though authorities had issued no official figure.

Before this collision, two firefighters died fighting a fire on Crete, while a third was killed in the Peloponnese.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his deepest sorrow in a post on X, stating that the loss of the Greek coordinator and Danish pilot fills us all with grief.

John McDermott, founder and president of McDermott Aviation, stated that the company is working closely with relevant authorities as they undertake an investigation into the incident.

Flight Operations and Regional Impact

The two helicopters involved in the collision had departed from Elefsina military airport, according to the Greek fire service. While the crash occurred in the wider area of Psatha, Attica, it took place during an operation to combat a blaze that began Friday near Agios Vasileios before spreading toward the mountains west of Athens. To manage the escalating threat, authorities ordered evacuations in Toutouli, Agia Skepi, and Kandili as smoke blanketed the mountain range.

The scale of the regional crisis extended beyond the Attica-Boeotia border. Aircraft conducted water drops over the Ionian island of Kefalonia to protect inland communities, and crews fought a separate fire near Nea Tenedos in Halkidiki. This volatility mirrored broader European trends reported by the BBC, which noted that France and Spain dealt with massive blazes near Bordeaux and Madrid earlier in the week, resulting in the evacuation of some 300,000 people.

The survivors of the mid-air collision played a direct role in the immediate aftermath. The news website Ekathimerini reported that the British pilot and Greek coordinator immediately notified authorities of the impact, providing the guidance necessary for rescuers to locate the crash site. Forensic experts and firefighters subsequently arrived at the scene to recover the deceased crew members, who were found unconscious.

The incident adds to a grim toll for emergency responders in the region. In addition to the two deaths on Sunday, three other firefighters were killed during this period: two while fighting a fire on Crete and one in the Peloponnese. The names of the four crew members involved in the Bell helicopter collision have not been released publicly. According to John McDermott of McDermott Aviation, the next step is for the company to continue assisting relevant authorities as they undertake their investigation into the incident.