Firefighting plane goes down in crash shown on TV

A firefighting aircraft has crashed whereas preventing fires in southern Greece, as authorities battle fires throughout the nation amid a return of heatwave temperatures.

The crash occurred on the island of Evia, and was aired in a state tv broadcast that confirmed the low-flying plane disappearing right into a canyon earlier than a fireball was seen moments later.

A firefighting aircraft crashed whereas preventing fires on the island of Evia in southern Greece on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (ERT)

The newest evacuations orders had been issued on the islands of Corfu and Evia, whereas a blaze on the island of Rhodes continued to maneuver inland, torching mountainous forest areas, together with a part of a nature reserve.

Desperate residents, many with moist towels round their necks to stave off the scorching warmth, used shovels to beat again flames approaching their houses, whereas firefighting planes and helicopters resumed water drops at first gentle.

Authorities mentioned greater than 20,000 individuals has been concerned in successive evacuations on the island, principally vacationers over the weekend, when hearth swept by means of two coastal areas on the southeast of Rhodes.

Among them was Serbian basketball star Philip Petrusev, a performed for the Philadelphia 76ers who was vacationing on Rhodes together with his accomplice Tiana Sumakovic. In a sequence of on-line posts, Sumakovic described frantic scenes as she and Petrusev escaped the hearth.

“The fire got very close and we had to run,” Sumakovic wrote, captioning movies of the hearth.

“We were choking on the smoke and ran as far as we could … we eventually made it to safety.”

The European Union has despatched 500 firefighters, 100 automobiles and 7 planes from 10 member states, whereas Turkey, Israel, Egypt and different international locations have additionally despatched assist.

“For the 12th day, under extreme conditions of heat and strong winds, we are fighting nonstop on dozens of forest fire fronts … The Greek Fire Service has battled more than 500 fires — more than 50 a day,” Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias mentioned.

Flames burn a forest in Vati village, on the Aegean Sea island of Rhodes, southeastern Greece, on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In Athens, authorities resumed afternoon closing hours on the historic Acropolis, as a part of broader measures to deal with the excessive warmth.

EU officers have blamed local weather change for the growing frequency and depth of wildfires throughout the European continent, noting that 2022 was the second-worst yr for wildfire injury on file after 2017.