Helicopter crash on Samos: dead Greek left two minor children

The people of Greece mourn the 2 who died during the crash of the Mi-8 fire helicopter, including the 49-year-old translator, retired Greek Air Force pilot Theodoros Vlahos. Together with the Greek, the co-pilot of the helicopter, a citizen of Romania, died.

As we reported earlier, the Greek provided communication between the helicopters and the operational headquarters of the fire department of the Mi-8 helicopter under the registration number Er-mh4, (registered in Moldova in the Valan ICC company), which crashed into the sea in the Agios Minas area north of Paleochori (Samos Island). ) during the intake of water to extinguish a fire.

Who is this Greek translator who died in the crash?

The Greek who was found dead is a 49-year-old Theodoros Vlachoswho acted as an interpreter to coordinate actions between helicopter pilots and the fire department. Vlachos He was a retired pilot from the Hellenic Air Force. He was the father of two minor children aged 16 and 10.

In the summer he worked in fire aviation on helicopters. His family, relatives and friends are in mourning, and his wife is in a very difficult psychological state.

The brother of the deceased T. Vlahos, a soldier, spoke to the Alfa TV channel and said that he “left to do his duty.” As he explained, his brother was a selfless person, every year he participated in the firefighting efforts, especially on the island of Samos, which he knew very well.

This photo, presumably, captures the moment of the helicopter crash.

How the helicopter crashed

The helicopter was engaged in extinguishing a large forest fire on Samos, in the area of ​​Agios Minas, which is still burning. Mi-8 fire helicopter took off from Samos at 16:39, the accident occurred at 17:55.

At the moment when it descended over the sea and took on water, north of Paleochori, a sharp gust of wind, which at that time was from 6 to 7 points on the Beaufort scale, threw the helicopter down. Because of what, he hit the water from a height of about 30 meters and sank.

The second Mi-8 firefighter helicopter, which participated in extinguishing the fire, immediately began to survey the area, and a coast guard boat also arrived. Of the 4 crew members, two managed to survive …

Valan ICC Administration Representative Victor Shkiopu declaredthat three people in the crew of the crashed helicopter, apart from a Greek, were citizens of Moldova. Most likely, they all had a second citizenship of Romania (in Moldova, almost half of the population has citizenship of neighboring Romania. Editor’s note). Therefore, there is some confusion about citizenship information.

Information about the deceased pilot, a citizen of Romania (Moldova), is not yet available to the editors.

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