A British pilot has survived a helicopter collision that killed two people while fighting wildfires in Greece. The incident occurred on Sunday in the area of Psatha in the Attica region, west of Athens. According to the Greek fire service, a Greek and a Danish national were killed in the collision. The British pilot and a Greek liaison onboard the second helicopter survived and were taken to hospital for further tests.
The crash is the latest incident in a series of devastating wildfires that have swept across southern Europe. Greek firefighters have been battling to control a huge wildfire that has destroyed over 100 homes northwest of Athens, while a fresh blaze forced evacuations on the popular tourist island of Kefalonia. The wildfires have also claimed the lives of three firefighters in Greece, who died while battling out-of-control fires on Crete and in mainland Greece.
The wildfires have been exacerbated by record-breaking heatwaves and little rain, with Europe experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons on record. The area of land burned in France is already 40 per cent larger than the previous record year, and President Emmanuel Macron has described this season’s wildfires as the worst disaster to face the country since the Second World War.
In Greece, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has warned of ‘difficult days ahead’ as the country struggles to contain the fires. Gale-force winds have fueled a fire around Porto Germeno, near Athens, and firefighters have focused their efforts on preventing the fire from advancing towards the coastal town of Megara, which has a population of around 30,000.
The wildfires have also had a significant impact on other European countries, with Hungary’s sole nuclear power plant forced to shut due to low water levels in the Danube River. The plant’s shutdown is the first in over four decades, and the country is facing a critical five-day period as it struggles to cope with the drought.
In Spain, fires in eastern Castellon have burnt more than 10,000 hectares, and at least six regions have been placed on orange alert, the second-highest level in the country’s weather alert system. The wildfires have also disrupted shipping and tourism in Hungary and triggered water-use restrictions in over 100 cities and villages.
