World News: Firefighting Aircraft down in Greece, Italy

2 crew killed when firefighting plane crashes in Greece; similar crash in Italy leaves 1 dead, Another today in California, Tragic Day for Firefighting aircraft

iht.com

STIRA, Greece: A firefighting plane smashed into a hillside on a southern Greek island Monday, killing both crew members, as the country struggles to contain wildfires amid sweltering heat.

Another firefighting plane crashed Monday in central Italy, which is also struggling against wildfires fanned by soaring temperatures and persistent winds. One of the Canadair plane's crew died and the other was seriously injured when the plane went down in Italy's central Abruzzo region, the country's Civil Protection Department said.

In Greece, the CL-415 tanker was flying through thick smoke to douse a fire outside the resort of Stira, on Evia island, when it crashed, sending wreckage across an area over 100 meters (yards).

"From accounts we heard from witnesses, the plane flew very low to make its drop and then couldn't gain enough height in time," Stira Mayor Sofia Moutsou said. "They saved our village, but it cost them their lives."

The plane's crew members were aged 27 and 34, the Air Force said.

The fire on Evia burned several homes and forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents.

Amid successive heat waves, more than 2,000 fires have broken out in Greece since June. With Monday's temperatures reaching 42 degrees Celsius (107 Fahrenheit) in parts of the country, an elderly man died of heat stroke on the island of Corfu, and 13 others were hospitalized elsewhere in Greece, officials said.

Politicians paid tribute to the Fire Service, which has lost five members this summer in fires. Three died July 11 battling a forest fire on the island of Crete.

"The pilots of these fire planes died defending us ... I express my deep sense of grief to their families," President Karolos Papoulias said Monday.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis cut short a visit to Bosnia to return to Greece, as six large fires raged out of control in parts of the country.

Hospitals have been placed on alert, and temperatures were forecast to rise to 44 Celsius (111.2 F) Tuesday, the health ministry said.

"We're prepared to deal with more heat stroke cases, but the most important thing is that people look after their elderly relatives — making sure they stay cool and hydrated," ministry official Panos Efstathiou said.

In June, 12 people — aged between 59 and 103 — have died from heat-related causes. A fire in central Greece on June 5 killed two people trapped by the flames.

The state power company urged people to limit midday use of air conditioners to avoid overloading the national grid, as electricity consumption reached a new record Monday of 10,610 megawatts.

In Italy, temperatures peaked at 40 C (104 F) Monday in the southern city in Bari, while many other cities registered temperatures in the upper 30s C (100s F).