Two people were badly injured and another was missing after a firefightinglinklink with four crew aboard crashed intothe sea off Greece link on Wednesday, thecoastguard and fire service said.
“The Romanian pilot of the helicopterlink found safe and sound by theGreek coastguard off Samos and taken to the island’s hospital,” acoastguard official told AFP.
But she added that “two crew members — a Romanian and a Moldovan — werefound unconscious in the water and efforts to resuscitate them are ongoing”.
The fourth crew member, a Greek, was listed as missing and a coastguardrescue operation was under way to find him.
A fire brigade official said the helicopterlink “was participating in fighting aforest fire on Samos”, a mountainous island in the Aegean Sea.
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The coastguard sent three patrol vessels and said two other boats wereinvolved in the rescue operation.
The fire started around two pm (1100 GMT), prompting authorities todispatch three helicopters and five planes as well as some 50 firefighters.
But strong winds hampered their efforts as temperatures hovered around the30 Celsius mark (86 Fahrenheit).-APP/AFP
