Sky News broke away from its usual schedule to deliver a tragic update from Greece, where firefighters are battling wildfires. Correspondent Barnaby Papadopulos confirmed that two firefighters had died following a collision between two helicopters.
The crash took place as crews fought a huge wildfire northwest of Athens in the Attica region. Earlier footage on the channel had appeared to show two helicopters colliding.
Search and rescue teams find crew
Search and rescue teams located the crew of one helicopter, who were found safe. They were a Greek national and a British national. The two people on the other helicopter, a Greek and a Danish national, did not survive.
The Greek Fire Service has launched an investigation into the cause of the crash, according to the correspondent.
Government warned of high winds
Just hours before the incident, Greece's Prime Minister had warned that very high winds could make it difficult for some firefighting helicopters and planes to take off.
The helicopters involved had taken off from the Elefsina military airport, west of Athens.
Fatalities across Greece
Over the past week, Greece has seen multiple fire-related deaths. Two firefighters died in Crete, and another firefighter died in the Peloponnese region.
The wildfires are not confined to Greece. France and Spain are also battling large blazes as Europe experiences extraordinarily high temperatures and, in Greece, very high winds that are spreading the fires and hampering efforts to contain them.
Difficult conditions for firefighting
Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Evangelos Tournas said: "The very strong to gale-force winds continue to create exceptionally difficult conditions."
Extreme turbulence was preventing some aircraft from collecting water or approaching the fires closely enough to make drops, he said.
Meteorologist Theodore Giannaros said search and rescue crews are "working under very, very difficult conditions". He told BBC News: "Since last Wednesday, my country has been experiencing very bad fire weather," adding that the fire has already burned more than 100,000 hectares of land in Greece.
"So conditions are very difficult, and both crews on the ground and through the air experience all this difficulty in containing this large event."
