There is a fire on the Greek holiday island of Samos. The fire was temporarily out of control. Then a firefighting helicopter crashed into the sea.
Updated July 14, 8:24 a.m: The fire on the island of Samos is not yet under control. Firefighters and volunteers fought the blaze all night, the fire department said Thursday morning. The extinguishing work, also from the air, has been going on since dawn. The military and local government support the emergency services with construction machinery and water tankers.
A helicopter crashed into the sea while fighting the fire on Wednesday. Two of the four occupants died in the accident. They are a Romanian and a Greek, the state broadcaster ERT reported. Shortly after the crash, a member of the helicopter crew was rescued alive from the sea off the island in the sea. A fourth swam ashore and was discovered there, the Greek coast guard said in the evening.
The helicopter was used to fight a large forest fire in the west of the island of Samos. The crew was apparently about to load fire-fighting water from the sea when the heli crashed for reasons not yet known. The cause of the fire is also initially unclear.
Forest fire in Greek holiday paradise: Helicopter supported during extinguishing work in Samos
First report from July 13, 2021
Samos – A forest fire has been raging on the Greek island of Samos since Wednesday afternoon (July 13, 2022). According to the portal, 14 fire-fighting trains, three fire-fighting aircraft and two fire-fighting helicopters tried Samo’s Voiceto bring the flames under control, but so far without resounding success. The source of the fire is near the town of Paleochori in the westernmost part of the popular holiday island in the Aegean.
Forest fire on Samos: fire-fighting helicopter is based – the cause is now known
In the course of efforts to stop the forest fire, a fire-fighting helicopter was reported to have crashed during the day. The helicopter crashed into the sea for initially unknown reasons. The Romanian pilot, who was taken to the hospital in critical condition with serious injuries, according to Greek media, has now been found. The Greek coast guard was only able to rescue two other crew members dead, as the state broadcaster ERT reported in the evening.
The fourth crew member is still being sought. As it turned out, the rescue workers, presumably consisting of a Romanian, two Moldovans and a Greek translator, wanted to take water from the sea when their helicopter crashed from a low altitude.
Forest fire not only on Samos: fire brigade announces warning level for large parts of Greece
The flames and huge clouds of smoke on Samos could be seen from afar; meanwhile, two towns in the area of the fire have already been evacuated as a precaution. However, the heat and the associated drought in Europe are also affecting the rest of Greece; on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, 35 forest fires were registered across the country within 24 hours.
A “very high risk of forest fire” was issued by the fire brigade for Thursday, July 14, 2022, the second highest warning level. Large parts of the eastern Aegean are affected, as well as the Attica region around Athens and the islands of Euboea and Crete. (askl)
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