Two aircrafts helping put out the horror wildfires in Greece smashed into each other mid-air - two people died but a British pilot was among the survivors10:45, 03 Aug 2026A British pilot survived a horror fireball crash in Greece after two helicopters tackling wildfires smashed into each other mid-air.‌The horror collision, on Sunday, left two crew members dead as terrifying footage caught the moment the helicopters slammed into one another. A Danish pilot and a Greek fire service liaison officer were tragically killed in the blaze and they were the only people on one of the choppers.‌A British pilot and a Greek crew member on the other helicopter survived the crash. Footage caught the two helicopters slowly crossing paths while at low altitude over the wildfires, in Psatha, west of Athens.‌One of the helicopters was seen clipping the rotary blades of the other before it exploded and plunged into a ravine. The second aircraft made an emergency landing.The Greek Fire Service said two Bell helicopters, which had been leased from Australian company McDermott Aviation, collided while trying to put out a huge wildfire that had been raging on the Attica-Boeotia border.‌A Greek civil protection ministry source, according to the BBC, allegedly said: "The two people on board, a British pilot and a Greek fire service liaison officer - escaped with minor injuries. Both remained conscious and have been admitted to hospital, where they will remain under observation for 24 hours as a precaution."Greece's fire ⁠department in a statement after the deadly crash said: "During the aerial firefighting operation, two BELL helicopters, leased by the fire department, with a crew of two people each, crashed in the wider area of Psatha, Attica. The helicopters had taken off from the Elefsina military airport. The search and rescue operation is under way." This source also claimed the British pilot was not part of an exchange between Greece and the UK but was a hired privately.‌Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in a post on X, said: "I express my deepest sorrow for the tragic accident involving the two leased firefighting helicopters that cost the lives of two frontline fighters in the war against the fires under highly adverse weather conditions—especially for our aerial assets. The loss of the Greek coordinator and the Danish pilot while they were operating in the major fire at Porto Germeno fills us all with grief. Sincere condolences to their families."Article continues belowThis comes after winds drove flames deeper into the Athens region on Sunday and forced a new wave of evacuations. Fires spread through western Attica, the region around Athens, and threatened communities and an industrial district outside Megara as violent gusts stopped firefighting aircraft from collecting water from the sea.Athens has not been the only area in Greece battling horror wildfires as flames threatened homes on Kefalonia, forcing evacuations from inland communities as aircraft made water drops over the island. Firefighters battled another blaze near Nea Tenedos in Halkidiki.Two firefighters died battling a fire on Crete earlier this week, while a third was killed in a separate fire in the Peloponnese. Wildfires have also ravaged Spain and 224,000 were forced to flee their homes in France.