A 22-year-old British tourist has been killed in Greece after being hit by the propeller of a helicopter on Monday, July 25. Police identified the victim as Jack Fenton.
“He was the first to disembark the Bell 407 helicopter in Athens and as he moved to the back, he was hit in the head by the aircraft’s small rear rotor,” a senior police official told the Times.
The helicopter pilot and two ground crew were detained and have appeared before a prosecutor with potential charges of negligence.
“We are doing everything to understand what went wrong and how this tragic accident occurred,” the senior police official told the Times.
Fenton and his group had reportedly chartered two helicopters to fly to a private airport in Spata from the Greek island Mykonos. They were then planning to travel on a private jet back to the U.K.
Fenton reportedly disembarked the helicopter and walked behind it while its engines were still on. He was hit by the tail rotor, Britain’s Independent newspaper said.
Fenton’s parents were reportedly in a second helicopter, which had not yet landed at the time of the accident. The pilot of that helicopter, after being alerted by his colleagues on the ground, chose to divert to another airport so the parents would not have to witness the scene of the accident, the Independent reported.
Emergency services were called to the scene, but the victim is thought to have been killed almost instantly, the Independent reported.
