This photo shows the spot on the mountain where one of the two firefighting helicopters crashed in the Psatha area in Viotia region, west of Athens, on August 2, 2026. Photo by ARIS OIKONOMOU / AFP
Two crew members aboard a firefighting helicopter were killed after their aircraft collided mid-air with another helicopter while battling a wildfire near Athens on Sunday, Greek authorities said.
The fire department’s Director of Communications, Vassilis Vathrakogiannis, confirmed that both pilots were pulled from the wreckage unconscious and rushed to hospital, where they were later pronounced dead.
State broadcaster ERT had initially reported that one crew member had been rescued alive while search efforts continued for the second before authorities confirmed both fatalities.
Television footage captured one of the helicopters bursting into flames and crashing after what appeared to be a rotor collision during firefighting operations.
The helicopters were among the aircraft deployed to combat a major wildfire near the coastal village of Porto Germeno, about 70 kilometres northwest of Athens.
According to the fire department, nearly 500 firefighters were battling the blaze, which spread over a mountain overnight and threatened the western outskirts of the Greek capital.
Elsewhere, around 100 firefighters were working to contain another wildfire in Aigialia in the northern Peloponnese.
A separate fire also broke out late Saturday on the Ionian island of Cephalonia, a popular tourist destination. Greek news agency ANA reported that police arrested a 44-year-old man on Sunday on suspicion of deliberately starting the blaze.
The National Observatory’s climate monitoring service, meteo.gr, estimated that more than 6,500 hectares (16,000 acres) of land had already been destroyed by separate wildfires around the Gulf of Corinth, including the fire affecting Porto Germeno.
The observatory warned that weather conditions remain challenging for firefighting efforts, with strong northerly winds continuing to fuel the spread of the fires, although the winds have weakened slightly compared with previous days.
