Two helicopters have crashed into each other while putting out wildfires west of Athens killing two while a Briton was one of two who survived

Two people have died after firefighting helicopters collided in mid-air while tackling wildfires in Greece with a Briton one of two surviving.

A major search and rescue operation was launched to locate the crews in the ⁠Porto Germeno area of Athens, Greece's fire ⁠department said with two Greeks and two foreign nationals involved.

The two on one of the helicopters, a Briton and a Greek, were found alive but sadly those on the other aircraft - Greek and a Dane have died.

Wildfires have ravaged parts of Greece in recent weeks and a blaze broke out northwest of Athens on Friday with nearly 500 firefighters tackling it with 23 aircraft.

"During the aerial firefighting operation, two BELL helicopters, leased by the fire department, with a crew of two people each, crashed in the wider area of Psatha, Attica," the department said in a statement. "The helicopters had taken off from the Elefsina military airport. The search and rescue operation is under way."

Following updates said that the crew members of one of the helicopters have been found "safe" and that the two on the other aircraft had been killed.

Photographs published in the Greek media appear to show the badly damaged wreckage of a helicopter on a road close to the scene.

The helicopters involved were leased with their captain not from the country, but they do have a Greek officer on board as a coordinator who is in communication with the Fire Department's operations centre, reported ERT.

More than 100 homes have been destroyed and people have been evacuated from their homes in the region near the Greek capital with the situation made worse by strong winds which have prevented firefighter aeroplanes and helicopters to fly near to the stricken areas.

Authorities ordered the evacuation of Kandili, Agia Skepi and Toutouli as smoke rose over the mountains. Crews were particularly concerned about Porto Germeno, a seaside community on the Gulf of Corinth.

A military firing range has been among the sites affected, with the fire said to have activated unexploded ordnance.

The fire started near Agios Vasileios before sweeping toward Porto Germeno and into the forested mountains west of Athens. Firefighters evacuated 254 people by sea Friday and another 12 Saturday — often the last escape route when fire and smoke cut the few roads from coastal communities.

Wildfire meteorologist Theodore Giannaros estimated the blaze had affected 15 to 19 square miles, though authorities had issued no official figure.

Flames are now spreading through western Attica, the region around Athens, threatening communities and an industrial district outside Megara as violent gusts prevented firefighting aircraft from collecting water from the sea. The danger carried grim resonance in a region where the 2018 Mati wildfire killed 104 people, Europe’s deadliest blaze this century.

Elsewhere in Greece, flames threatened homes on Kefalonia, forcing evacuations from inland communities as aircraft made water drops over the Ionian island. Firefighters battled another blaze near Nea Tenedos in Halkidiki.

Earlier this week, two firefighters died fighting a fire on Crete, while a third was killed in the Peloponnese. “A pristine forest, a paradise, was surrendered to the hands of the fire,” local farmer Minas Tzortzanis said Saturday. “There are no words to explain what has happened. Destruction. Total destruction.”