Sifnos helicopter crash kills British honeymoon couple and pilot

A private helicopter has crashed on the Greek island of Sifnos, killing three people on board. The tragedy unfolded on Monday afternoon when the aircraft came down in the Tholos area close to the island’s heliport.

According to fire service officials, the aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from Markopoulo, while other reports indicated the flight departed from a helipad in the Tholos neighbourhood. The aircraft, identified as a Bell 206 operated by Bellavia Aviation Services, was approaching Sifnos when it went down near the Holy Monastery of Panagia Vrysi. Witnesses in the Examela area reported hearing a strange noise as the helicopter approached shortly before it was due to land at the heliport.

Media additions

The impact triggered a large fire and an arid hillside was engulfed in a fireball that produced a thick plume of dark smoke. Local firefighters worked to bring the blaze under control before it could reach nearby residential structures. Emergency services were alerted to the incident, and the Hellenic Fire Service's Operations Centre recorded notification of the crash. Two firefighters and a fire engine were initially deployed, while a specialist rescue team travelled from the nearby island of Syros aboard a Fire Service RAFNAR high-speed vessel to assist with the operation.

Rescue teams recovered the bodies of all three occupants from the wreckage. Local media and reports identified the victims as a British couple who had recently married and were on their honeymoon, alongside the pilot. The pilot was described as a Greek national, an experienced former military aviator, and a married father of three. Local reporting identified the pilot as Giorgos Raikos and the passengers as Alexander Cromie and Marie Ebert, although authorities had not immediately confirmed their identities.

Sifnos Deputy Mayor Manolis Foutoulakis stated that authorities were examining the possibility that the helicopter suffered a mechanical failure. The exact cause of the crash has not yet been established and is currently being investigated by the relevant authorities. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is understood to be in contact with local authorities.

Sifnos is a stunning island in the western part of the Cyclades island group in Greece, sitting right between Serifos and Milos. It sits around 76 nautical miles (140 km) from Athens' main port, Piraeus, and is widely celebrated as a culinary hotspot with a rich pottery history and scenic villages.

The disaster comes shortly after another aviation tragedy in Greece. Earlier this month, a Briton survived and two people were killed after two firefighting helicopters collided while battling vast blazes tearing through an area west of Athens. A Greek and a Danish national on one helicopter were killed, after a second helicopter with a Briton and Greek onboard collided with its rotors. Both the Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and president Konstantinos Tasoulas paid tribute to the firefighters killed as they were fighting a wildfire that has destroyed more than 100 homes around Psatha, Attica, northwest of Athens. Europe has been ravaged by wildfires this summer after a period of record-breaking heatwaves and little rain – conditions that scientists say have been exacerbated by climate change.

Investigations into the Sifnos crash continue as relevant authorities work to establish the circumstances that led to the private helicopter coming down on the Aegean island.