Video Captures Moment Greek Firefighting Plane Crashed Into Hill

A video showing the moment a firefighting plane in Greece crashed on a hillside and was engulfed in a ball of fire and smoke has gone viral on social media.

Wildfires across Greece have produced striking images over the last few days as an estimated 3,500 people have needed to evacuate as fires continue to rage.

On Tuesday afternoon, a plane crashed as it attempted to put out some of the raging flames, according to reports.

The crash occurred on the island of Evia, near Athens, in the town of Karystos, according to the Greek public broadcasting news network ERT, known as EPT in Greece.

A video of the crash was caught on camera and has so far been viewed more than 600,000 times.

It is not clear how many people were onboard and how many injuries and fatalities the crash may have resulted in.

A helicopter is in the process of flying to the site to evaluate the situation, according to Google translated EPT News report.

In the video footage, the plane is seen dumping its fire retardant on the flames. The plane seems to turn away from the flames after its drop but also appears to lose altitude before crashing.

The aircraft has been identified as a CL215 Canadair and crashed at 2:52 p.m. local time, according to the report. The plane may have struck a tree as it conducted its drop, resulting in it losing altitude, the report stated.

The Air Force and the General Staff of National Defense have confirmed that air ambulances have taken off from Volos, Chios and Kotroni in Marathon in order to conduct a search and rescue operation.

Speaking on an EPT News broadcast, aeronautical engineer and editor of the Flight magazine Phaedon Karaiosisfidis highlighted the difficulty the pilots faced before the crash.

Karaiosisfidis said the planes the firefighters were using do not have an ejection or escape system so the best hope operators have if something happens is to attempt a force landing, according to a Google translation of a separate EPT News report.

He also highlighted the difficult job pilots have when dealing with wildfires in normal circumstances.

"It's a matter of experience, it's a matter of conditions and of course everything is done with safety in mind," he said.

"It is the pilot's decision how deep he will descend to make the drop, without any system or any other aid, unfortunately."

Update 7/25/23, 10:20 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.