A Greek firefighting plane crashed seconds after dumping water on a blaze raging on the island of Evia, adding a tragic twist to firefighters’ dramatic battle against the flames engulfing Mediterranean islands.
(Bloomberg) — A Greek firefighting plane crashed seconds after dumping water on a blaze raging on the island of Evia, adding a tragic twist to firefighters’ dramatic battle against the flames engulfing Mediterranean islands.
Footage broadcast by state-run ERT TV showed the Canadair CL-215 aircraft dropping water onto a forest fire and then banking hard right, when its right wing tip struck a tree, causing the water-float device to break off. The aircraft then tilted sideways, lost altitude and plunged into a ravine, where it went up in flames. Several hours after the crash, Greek Defense Minister Nikolaos Dendias said that the two pilots had been killed.
The plane, operated by the Greek fire department, was dropping water on a wildfire in the Karystos area of the island. Greece has seen 125 wildfires break out over the past 24 hours with the main blazes on the islands of Rhodes, Corfu and Evia. High winds are stoking wildfires and hampering efforts to tackle blazes.
The Canadair CL-215 has been in service for decades and was originally produced by Canadair and later Bombardier Inc. The amphibious water bomber is typically flown by two pilots and is designed to operate in remote areas. The propeller aircraft, of which about 125 units were made, is built for high-frequency drops of about 6 tons of water or flame retardant per rotation. Viking Air Ltd. took over the program from Bombardier in 2016.
AviationSafetyNetwork said there have been 31 accidents — excluding Tuesday’s incident — of which about two-thirds were fatal. The aircraft is principally deployed in Greece, Canada, Spain and the US.
–With assistance from Alan Levin.
(Updates with confirmation of pilots’ death in second paragraph.)
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