A British couple on their honeymoon, Alexander Cromie and Marie Ebert, and the pilot Giorgos Raikos were killed when their helicopter crashed and burst into flames on the Greek island of Sifnos on Monday evening. The crash occurred just minutes before the scheduled 6:15pm landing at Tholos area, and CCTV footage showed the aircraft spinning out of control before plummeting to the ground. A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed they are in contact with local authorities and stand ready to provide consular support. This is the second helicopter-related incident in Greece in recent weeks, following a collision between two firefighting helicopters that killed three people earlier this month.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-18,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
A British couple on their honeymoon, Alexander Cromie and Marie Ebert, and their pilot, Giorgos Raikos, were killed in a helicopter crash on the Greek island of Sifnos. The crash occurred on Monday evening at around 6:15 pm, just minutes before the helicopter was supposed to land, according to police. A senior police official in Athens said that the crash was caused by mechanical failure while in flight. Witnesses reported hearing a loud, strange noise like military aircraft before the crash. The incident occurred near the Tholos area of Sifnos, and CCTV footage showed the helicopter spinning out of control before crashing to the ground and bursting into flames.
Written for “Helicopter Crash in Greece” on 2026-08-31,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political
question, so it has no leaning score. That is an
answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly
or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it
anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political
position.
No political leaning scored for article 979 · logged 2026-08-25
A British couple on their honeymoon and a pilot were killed in a helicopter crash on the Greek island of Sifnos, according to reports.
uncertain
couple → kill → reports
Police said that Alexander Cromie and Marie Ebert were flying to the Aegean island when their helicopter crashed and burst into flames in the Tholos area on Monday evening.
asserted
helicopter → say → evening
A senior police official in Athens told the Times that the crash occurred just minutes before the helicopter was scheduled to land at 6.15pm.
asserted
helicopter → tell → 6.15pm
CCTV footage showed the aircraft spinning out of control before plummeting to the ground and igniting a fireball.
asserted
aircraft → show → fireball
A thick plume of dark smoke was seen billowing into the sky from the site of the crash.
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plume → see → crash
Greek police named the couple as Alexander Cromie and Marie Ebert to several media outlets, while the pilot was named locally as Giorgos Raikos.
asserted
pilot → name → Raikos
The Independent has reached out to Greek police and the Foreign Office for comment.
asserted
Independent → reach → comment
The deputy mayor of Sifnos, Manolis Fountoulakis, told local media there was little left of the aircraft after the crash.
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mayor → tell → crash
He said: “It experienced mechanical failure in the air; residents say it made a loud, strange noise, like military aircraft.”
asserted
it → say → aircraft
A Foreign Office spokesman told the Times: “We are in contact with the local authorities and are urgently seeking further information.
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We → tell → information
Our staff stand ready to provide consular support to those affected.”
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staff → stand → those
Sifnos has a permanent population of around 2,600 people, but has become a popular island to visit for tourists in recent years.
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Sifnos → have → years
Earlier this month, a Briton survived and two people were killed after two firefighting helicopters collided while battling vast blazes tearing through an area west of Athens.
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helicopters → survive → Athens
A Greek and a Danish national on one helicopter were killed, after a second helicopter with a Briton and Greek onboard collided with its rotors.
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helicopter → kill → rotors
Both people onboard the second helicopter survived.
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people → survive → helicopter
Tragic footage of the collision shows two helicopters crossing paths at low altitude, before the main rotor of the lower helicopter strikes the underside of the other, causing it to crash down in flames.
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it → show → flames
The second helicopter was able to fly away and carry out an emergency landing.
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helicopter → fly → landing
Both the Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and president Konstantinos Tasoulas paid tribute to the firefighters killed as they were fighting a wildfire that has destroyed more than 100 homes around Psatha, Attica, northwest of Athens.
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that → pay → Athens
Europe has been ravaged by wildfires this summer after a period of record-breaking heatwaves and little rain – conditions that scientists say have been exacerbated by climate change.
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scientists → ravage → change
Destructive blazes in France and Spain have shown some signs of easing, but several wildfires have broken out in Greece after a period of relative calm there.
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wildfires → show → calm
