In brief
Two Bell 412 helicopters collided over the Attica‑Boeotia border while battling wildfires, killing a Danish pilot and a Greek fire‑service liaison officer. The collision occurred about 65 km west of Athens, and the aircraft struck each other’s rotors, leading to a blaze and a crash in a ravine. British pilot Chris Halliday and Greek coordinator Michail Vourvoulis survived with minor injuries, sustaining the impact but walking away. The event highlights the dangers of aviation operations in emergency firefighting and prompted the grounding of all Bell helicopters in Greece for further investigation.
A mid‑air collision between two Bell 412 helicopters over the Attica‑Boeotia border on Sunday left a Danish pilot and a Greek fire‑service liaison officer dead, while a British pilot and his Greek co‑ordinator survived with minor injuries.
Video footage captured the moment the helicopters struck each other’s rotors, causing the rapidly expanding blaze that forced one aircraft down into a ravine. The second aircraft swerve‑landing in a low vegetation area allowed the surviving crew to exit the aircraft safely.
The incident struck a vital region of Greece that has suffered intense wildfires this week, prompting large‑scale evacuations and a heavy firefighting response. Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed “deepest sorrow” over the loss, noting “the grief that fills us all.”
Sources in the civil protection ministry confirmed the helicopters were leased from Australian company McDermott Aviation, and all Bell models across the country have been grounded pending investigation. The British pilot was a private volunteer hired for the season; the Greek co‑ordinator is a member of the national fire service.
With the fire‑fighting crews still battling large blazes across the country and neighboring France and Spain, the accident underscores the perilous nature of aerial firefighting under extreme heat conditions.
