Three people have been killed after a helicopter crashed moments before it was due to land on the Greek island of Sifnos. A British couple on their honeymoon and the pilot were pronounced dead after the helicopter crashed and burst into flames. The crash occurred in the Tholos area at 6.15pm on Monday evening.
CCTV footage showed the aircraft spinning out of control before plummeting to the ground and igniting a fireball. A thick plume of dark smoke was seen billowing into the sky from the site of the crash. Here is what we know about who was involved in the crash and what may have caused it.
Alexander Cromie, 31, and his wife Marie Ebert, 30, who were on their honeymoon, were killed alongside their Greek pilot, Giorgos Raikos, 53. Asset management firm Blackstone, where Mr Cromie worked as a vice president in private wealth, said it was “shocked” by the couple’s death. Greek police believe a mechanical fault may be the cause of the crash.
Authorities are focussing on a “strange noise” the aircraft, a privately chartered Bell 206, is reported to have made before falling to the ground. CCTV footage of the aircraft spiralling out of control is also being studied. The deputy mayor of Sifnos, Manolis Fountoulakis, told local media that there was little left of the aircraft after the crash.
He said: “It experienced mechanical failure in the air; residents say it made a loud, strange noise, like military aircraft.” A Foreign Office spokesperson told the Times: “We are in contact with the local authorities and are urgently seeking further information. Our staff stand ready to provide consular support to those affected.” The model of helicopter is a Bell, which is the same model of aircraft involved in a crash earlier this month which saw two people killed after two firefighting helicopters collided while battling vast blazes near Athens. A Greek and a Danish national on one helicopter were killed after a second helicopter with a Briton and a Greek on board collided with its rotors.
Both people on the second helicopter survived. Footage of the collision shows two helicopters crossing paths at low altitude, before the main rotor of the lower helicopter strikes the underside of the other, causing it to crash down in flames. The second helicopter was able to fly away and carry out an emergency landing.
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