Sifnos: three dead after helicopter crash

Three people lost their lives on the afternoon of Monday, August 17, on Sifnos, when a private helicopter crashed in the Tholos area and immediately caught fire. According to a statement from the Fire Service, reproduced by local and national media, the Operations Centre was notified of the incident at around 18:17. The helicopter came down next to the island’s helipad and a short distance from homes; in.gr reports a distance of about thirty metres from the helipad. Two firefighters with one vehicle responded at the scene, while a rescue team from Syros also travelled there aboard a Fire Service speedboat. According to the service, three bodies, whose identities remain unknown for now, were located during the firefighting operation.

Information about the flight remains unclear and sources diverge on significant points, which we record rather than gloss over. Koini Gnomi and Cyclades24 report that the helicopter had taken off from Markopoulo, while in.gr places the departure at Spata. As for the operator, the first two outlets name a specific company, while in.gr refers generally to a private air-taxi company; no official confirmation has been given so far, and for that reason TodayGrid is not reproducing a company name. There was also confusion over the number of victims: some outlets initially reported six dead, a figure that was not confirmed. As in.gr explicitly notes, the Fire Service ultimately confirmed that three people had died.

Sifnos’s helipad mainly serves emergency medical air transfers and limited private flights, since the island has no airport and is connected to mainland Greece exclusively by sea. In recent years the use of private helicopters for travel to the Cycladic islands has increased significantly during the summer months, especially on peak days in August. The fact that the helicopter went down near a residential area, and that the crash was followed by a fire, immediately mobilised local residents. No injuries or damage to third parties on the ground were reported.

The next steps concern identifying the victims and investigating the causes. In air accidents of this kind, the safety investigation is assigned to the competent national air accident investigation authority, while a case file is also opened and forwarded to the prosecutor’s office. The process includes collecting the wreckage, analysing flight data where recorders exist, examining the aircraft’s maintenance history, and taking statements from eyewitnesses. By Monday evening, neither the identity nor the nationality of those on board had been officially announced, nor was it known which body would take charge of the investigation. TodayGrid does not publish victims’ details before an official announcement and notification of their families. More from the islands on the Cyclades page.