Firefighting plane crashes in Greece as wildfires rage

ATHENS — A firefighting aircraft crashed Tuesday while battling a blaze on the Greek island of Evia, as wildfires continue to rage and a new heat wave hits the country.

Two pilots, members of the Greek Air Force, were on board the Canadair water bomber that crashed into a ravine, according to officials at the Greek fire brigade and the air force.

State broadcaster ERT showed footage of the plane dropping water over a fire, then striking a tree before crashing into a hillside and bursting into flames. A search and rescue operation is underway.

The battle to contain wildfires across Greece continued for an eighth straight day as firefighters struggled to extinguish flames on inferno-stricken Rhodes, Corfu and Evia and at other smaller blazes in the Greek mainland.

“In the face of what the entire planet is facing, especially the Mediterranean which is a climate change hot spot, there is no magical defense mechanism. If there was, we would have implemented it,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Tuesday during a Cabinet meeting, warning of difficult days ahead.

Authorities ordered more evacuations in Rhodes and Corfu on Tuesday, as the fires continue to rage out of control. Tens of thousands of locals and holidaymakers have been displaced, while repatriation flights continued Tuesday and more than 5,000 people have already left the popular holiday islands.

The Dutch foreign ministry has issued a travel warning for Rhodes, Corfu and Evia.

A new heat wave hit Greece on Tuesday and will persist until Thursday with temperatures expected to exceed 44C in some areas. The Civil Protection Authority warned the threat of further blazes was high in almost every part of Greece on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Moody’s ratings agency warned that heat waves may reduce southern Europe’s attractiveness as a tourist destination in the longer term, hurting the economy of the region.

But Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni sought to downplay the wildfires’ impact, stressing that people can still go to Rhodes despite the flames, as only a “small part” of the island has been affected.

The sizzling heat threatening lives and fueling wildfires this summer across Southern Europe would have been “virtually impossible” without man-made global warming, scientists said on Tuesday.