# Two firefighting helicopters collide above Greece's Psatha wildfire, killing Danish pilot and Greek officer > Two Bell-type helicopters collided in mid-air while battling the Psatha wildfire near Athens on August 2; a Danish pilot and a Greek liaison officer died, while a British pilot and a Greek coordinator on the second aircraft sustained minor injuries; the helicopters had taken off from Elefsina military airbase, and accident investigators said the flight formation broke apart before the collision **Meta:** type: event · date: 2026-08-02 · heads: 什么崩了 · 4 takes · 4 lenses · 3 regions ## Summary Two Bell-type firefighting helicopters collided above the Psatha wildfire in West Attica, [Greece](/zh/entity/greece), on August 2, killing a Danish pilot and a Greek liaison officer. The other crew, a British pilot and a Greek coordinator, survived with minor injuries. The helicopters, part of the multinational aerial fleet deployed to Greece for the wildfire season, had taken off from Elefsina military airbase; an accident investigator told ProtoThema English the flight formation broke apart before the collision. Al Jazeera initially reported four crew members missing. Greece has been fighting multiple simultaneous wildfires for weeks under record heat and strong winds, including the Psatha fire in the Attica-Boeotia area that forced evacuations of multiple coastal communities. ## The split Greek media leads with the specific crew identities and the technical failure of the formation. Al Jazeera frames the crash in the broader European wildfire story, noting France has largely contained its blazes while [Greece](/zh/entity/greece) continues to struggle. Euronews first reported the collision but placed it as one item in a multi-country dispatch. The Danish and British governments had not issued public statements by the time of the latest reports; their perspectives on the deaths of their nationals are absent from the feed. ## By the numbers - 2, crew members killed: a Danish pilot and a Greek liaison officer - 2, crew members with minor injuries: a British pilot and a Greek coordinator - 2, Bell-type helicopters lost in the collision - 4, nationalities involved: Danish, Greek (x2), British - 1, the Elefsina military airbase from which both helicopters departed ## Why it matters Greece deploys a multinational aerial firefighting fleet each summer, with pilots from EU partner states including Denmark and contractors from the UK supplementing the national fleet. A mid-air collision during active firefighting is exceptional and removes two aircraft from service during a peak-demand period. The [希腊雅典周边及克里特岛野火肆虐，强风令多线灭火行动受阻](/zh/n/greece-wildfire-0731) Psatha front has been among the most active in a season Greece's fire service called "pushed to the limit." ## What to watch - Greece's accident investigation authority's formal inquiry into the formation breakdown - Replacement of the lost helicopters in the active fleet - Whether Greece formally requests additional EU civil protection assistance ## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens) ### Pan-European broadcaster, first international outlet to report the helicopter collision while covering the broader European wildfire situation; places the Greece incident in context of simultaneous fires in France and Spain - **Euronews** (Europe, en) — Euronews was the first outlet to report the mid-air collision, noting France had largely stopped its wildfire spread while Greece was still battling multiple outbreaks under high winds; the collision above Psatha appeared in the broader wildfire dispatch with limited detail at the time of first filing. > "Two firefighting helicopters collide while battling wildfire in Greece." Source: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/08/02/europes-wildfires-update-greece-still-battling-outbreaks-in-spain ### Doha-based international broadcaster; standalone collision story citing Greece's multi-front wildfire crisis and placing the incident in the context of European heat and southern-Europe wildfire fatigue - **Al Jazeera** (Qatar, en) — Al Jazeera reported four crew members initially listed as missing after the collision, adding context on Europe's record-breaking summer heat stretching firefighting resources across Greece, France, and Spain; the piece characterises the aerial firefighting fleet as stretched to a breaking point. > "Europe struggles with record-breaking summer heat as wildfires ravage Greece, France and Spain causing mass evacuations." Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/2/firefighting-helicopters-collide-near-athens-as-greece-battles-wildfires ### Greek news outlet, most detailed report; confirms identities of crew by nationality, explains the formation breakdown, and carries an accident investigator's account; identifies the helicopters as Bell-type aircraft from Elefsina military airbase - **ProtoThema English** (Greece, en) — ProtoThema confirms two deaths: a Danish pilot and a Greek liaison officer from one helicopter; the British pilot and Greek coordinator on the second helicopter survived with minor injuries. An accident investigator explained how the flight formation broke apart before impact. > "Two firefighting helicopters collided while tackling a blaze near Psatha after taking off from Elefsina military airbase. The British pilot and Greek coordinator of one helicopter sustained minor injuries, while the second crew, a Danish pilot and a Greek liaison officer have died." Source: https://en.protothema.gr/2026/08/02/two-bell-type-helicopters-collide-while-battling-the-psatha-wildfire/ ### unlabelled - **ProtoThema English** (Greece, en) — Source: https://en.protothema.gr/2026/08/01/homes-still-burning-in-porto-germeno-homes-burned-residents-rescued-from-the-beach-aircraft-not-operating-due-to-strong-winds/ ## Across the graph - Related: [[greece-wildfire-0731]] - Entities: Greece --- Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/zh/n/greece-helicopter-crash-0802