Firefighting teams in Greece announced today, Tuesday, that one of their planes crashed while battling raging wildfires in the country, with at least two people on board. Video footage showed the firefighting plane extinguishing flames in a mountainous area of Greece. After dumping its load of liquid, the plane flew for a few seconds before falling. The video captures a massive fireball that erupted immediately following the plane's crash.
The Greek Air Force stated, "Two pilots were on board the amphibious CL-215 when it crashed over the island of Evia, east of Athens," noting that two helicopters rushed to the scene for a search and rescue operation.
For his part, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned on Tuesday, "The coming days will be difficult, but conditions may improve after Thursday." He added, "We are all on alert in the face of what the entire planet is undergoing, especially the Mediterranean, which is considered a hot spot for climate change. There is no magical defensive mechanism; if there were, we would implement it."
Greece has been struggling to contain wildfires on the island of Rhodes for the seventh consecutive day, and hundreds of evacuated tourists are expected to return to their countries. About 20,000 people were forced to leave their homes and hotels in Rhodes over the weekend, as the fires that ignited a week ago spread to coastal resorts in the southeastern part of the island, burning large areas of land and damaging buildings.
Civil protection authorities warned of the imminent danger of wildfires in Rhodes and on the island of Crete today. The state-run ERT station reported that the body of a missing 41-year-old livestock breeder was found burned in a cabin in an inaccessible area on Evia Island.
