SAMOS, Greece — Two crew members died Tuesday when their firefighting helicopter crashed into the Aegean Sea during a mission to contain a wildfire on the island of Samos. A British pilot survived the impact and was pulled from the water by rescue teams.
The Romanian-operated Mi-8 helicopter was carrying four people when it went down off the coast of Plaka. Greek coast guard vessels and a nearby tanker scrambled to the site within minutes, recovering two bodies and pulling the British survivor and a second crew member from the wreckage.
Emergency responders confirmed the two victims were of Moldovan nationality. The survivor, identified as a British national, was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. A fourth crew member was also rescued and remains under medical observation.
The aircraft was part of an international effort to battle a blaze that broke out in a forested area of Samos earlier that afternoon. High winds, which have hampered firefighting efforts across Greece throughout the summer, are suspected to have played a role in the accident.
Greek civil aviation authorities have grounded operations in the immediate vicinity to facilitate an investigation. Witnesses reported seeing the helicopter lose stability before hitting the water, though officials stopped short of confirming a mid-air collision, clarifying instead that the aircraft crashed while maneuvering to refill its water bucket.
“The conditions were treacherous,” a local emergency coordinator told reporters on the scene. “Even with experienced crews, the wind gusts near the coast make these drops incredibly dangerous.”
The crash marks a grim turn in a season that has left Greece’s emergency services stretched to their breaking point. With temperatures remaining high and the fire risk at peak levels, the loss of the Mi-8 leaves a significant gap in the country’s aerial firefighting capacity just as the peak of the wildfire season arrives.
Authorities are now working to recover the helicopter’s flight data recorder, which remains submerged, to determine whether technical failure or pilot error led to the fatal descent. For now, the focus remains on the survivors and the families of the two men who didn’t make it home.
