Firefighting plane crashes while dousing blaze on Greek island as horror footage shows it clip tree and plunge into hill

TWO air force pilots died when their firefighting plane clipped a tree and crashed while battling a wildfire in Greece today.

Horror footage shows the aircraft plunging into a hillside as thousands continue to be evacuated from holiday resorts.

Christos Moulas, 34, and Periklis Stefanidis, 27, were sent to douse scrub fires near Platanistos at the southern tip of Evia island.

Footage shows their yellow Canadair CL-215 plane swooping low to dump water on smouldering bushes.

But it clips a tree, and a piece of wing believed to be a flap or other control surface is seen falling to the ground.

Seconds later the firefighting plane rolls over and nosedives towards the ground.

The pilot is unable to pull out of the dive and the aircraft is seen vanishing behind a ridge, followed by a fireball explosion and cloud of smoke.

Helicopter that were also fighting fires nearby flew to the scene of the crash, near the coastal town of Karystos.

One dropped water to douse the flaming wreckage, and another reportedly landed to check on the crew.

An eyewitness told local media: "I saw it pass me at a 90 degree angle.

"I thought, 'What is he doing?'. I considered it to have taken a dangerous flight slope.

"In three seconds I heard the explosion. It was immediately engulfed in flames."

He said two small blazes were sparked by crash but nearby fire engines immediately rushed to put them out.

Holidaymakers have been told to evacuate parts of Evia, Greece’s second-largest island, after forest fires erupted in the areas.

Evacuations were also underway today in the resort of Agioi Theodoroi near Athens. 

It comes as thousands of Brits were flown back from fire-ravaged Rhodes - with many more facing their summer holidays being cancelled.

As many as 10,000 Britons were estimated to be on the island, a favourite tourist destination, the Foreign Office said.

Some 20,000 people had to leave homes and hotels over the weekend as the inferno spread across Rhodes, after charring swathes of land and damaging buildings.

Meanwhile, several tourists got off a flight heading to Rhodes after the pilot warned them it was a "terrible idea" to travel there.

The plane was just about to take off from Gatwick when the easyJet captain urged the 37 British holidaymakers on board to think twice about their trip.

He said travelling to the island for a holiday was a "bad idea", explaining return flights are being managed by the military.

Eight travellers, including a young boy in tears, took heed of his sobering words and disembarked the aircraft, BBC Wales reported.

Firefighters on the island are still battling the flames as thousands of people have been forced to evacuate burning hotels, with tourists scrambling to get home on evacuation flights.

The deputy mayor of Rhodes, Konstantinos Taraslias, said the fires are still burning out of control after seven days of fighting them.

Wildfires are also raging on the island of Corfu, off the west coast of Greece, and tourists have been warned of an "extreme fire risk" in Crete.