Two Bell helicopters collided Sunday over Psatha, about 45 miles northwest of Athens, while working the Porto Germeno fire. Four people were aboard, two per aircraft. A Greek coordinator and a Danish pilot died. A second Greek coordinator and a British national survived. [1] Names were not released. The firefighter dead in Greece this week now stand at five.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis named those nationalities in his condolence. [1] The helicopters had lifted from Elefsina Air Base, leased to the Hellenic Fire Service. [1] Foreign crews are not an accident of Sunday. They are how Greece staffs a summer that now kills on Crete, the Peloponnese, and Attica in the same week. McDermott rotates Australian and international aircrew through those left seats every fire season.

The multinational roster is the capability the wires underplay. A Danish pilot and a British pilot in Australian-leased Bells, with Greek coordinators in the left seats, is a European labour market flying over a Greek hillside. Aviation Safety Network logged the pair as Bell 214ST helicopters N746H and N511EV. [3] The dead are not a local tragedy that happens to include foreigners. They are still the operating model for this Greek fire season.

-- DARA OSEI, London