A large forest fire broke out on the Greek island of Samos on Wednesday afternoon. A helicopter crashed into the sea while fighting the fire. Two people die and one is still missing. The pilot survived but is in very critical condition.
The rescue workers wanted to pick up water in the sea, then their helicopter crashed from a low altitude – at least two people died fighting the forest fire on Samos. According to Greek media, the pilot was rescued and taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Two other occupants were only recovered dead by the Greek coast guard. Another passenger is still being sought. It was initially unclear why the helicopter crashed. Meanwhile, the first towns in the region were evacuated in the evening because of the uncontrolled fire.
The crew of the helicopter is said to be a Romanian, two Moldovans and a Greek translator. A total of 14 fire-fighting trains, three fire-fighting planes and two fire-fighting helicopters were deployed on Wednesday to fight a forest fire in the far west of the island.
Tourists and residents could watch the flames and the huge clouds of smoke from afar. In the evening, two towns in the area of the fire were evacuated as a precaution because the fire could not be brought under control by then.
Understanding climate change and learning from the crisis for tomorrow’s world – Sven Plöger
On Samos and in many other areas of Greece, forest fires are currently occurring again and again due to the heat and drought.
For Thursday, the fire brigade issued the second highest warning level for several islands in the East Aegean, but also for the Attica region around Athens and the large islands of Euboea and Crete. There is a “very high risk of forest fires,” it said. The day before, 35 forest fires had been registered across the country within 24 hours.
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