A helicopter fighting a large forest fire on the Greek island of Samos crashed into the sea on Wednesday, claiming the lives of two of its four crew.
Two bodies were recovered by the coastguard, according to Greek public broadcaster ERT, while the pilot was pulled from the water and rushed to hospital in critical condition. The fourth crew member reportedly managed to swim ashore.
The reasons for the crash are not yet clear. The helicopter is believed to have been flying at low altitude to collect water from the sea to fight the blaze.
The crew reportedly comprised a Romanian pilot, two Moldovans and a Greek translator.
A large forest fire erupted on Wednesday afternoon in the far west of the Aegean island of Samos. Fourteen fire engines, three aircraft and two helicopters were deployed to contain the blaze.
Despite their efforts, the fire remained out of control on Wednesday night, prompting the precautionary evacuation of several communities.
The Greek fire service has issued the second highest warning level for Thursday on several islands in the eastern Aegean, as well as in the Attica region around Athens and on the islands of Euboea and Crete.
Meanwhile, more wildfires were being fought across Southern Europe.
In Croatia, a blaze near the Dalmatian town of Šibenik struck the coastal villages Zaton and Raslina. Several homes caught fire as emergency services helped residents flee by boat, local media reported.
Spain has been especially afflicted by sweltering heat, with temperatures of up to 44 degrees Celsius in Andalusia in the south and in Extremadura in the west of the country on Wednesday.
Several forest fires have broken out in Spain amid the heat, winds and drought. The worst has been raging in the municipality of Las Hurdes, near the border with Portugal.
In Portugal, too, firefighters and civil defence personnel battled blazes in temperatures well above 40 degrees in some places, especially in the centre of the country.
To the north-east, emergency forces on the French Atlantic coast evacuated 6,000 people from their homes as flames spread in the area, according to the Gironde prefecture. Five campsites near Teste-de-Buch, south of Bordeaux, were also evacuated as a precaution.
In Türkiye, a fire was being fought on the Datça peninsula in the country's south-west. Turkey's western coastal province of İzmir also saw fires breaking out.
