22-Year-Old British Tourist Killed by Helicopter in Front of Friends During Greek Vacation
A British tourist, 22, has been killed in Greece after being hit by the rotor blades of a helicopter.
The victim, identified as Jack Fenton, had just taken a helicopter ride with three friends from the island of Mykonos to the Spata airport in mainland Athens when the accident happened, The Times reported Tuesday.
"All four passengers had disembarked and were escorted to a private lounge awaiting a private flight for London," Ioannis Kandyllis, president of Greece's committee for aviation accidents, told The Times.
However, according to Kandyllis, Fenton then broke away from his pals and returned to the tarmac, "rushing to the helicopter at a fast pace."
Though the ground crew shouted at him to stop, he was allegedly speaking to someone on his cell phone or attempting to take a photo and didn't hear their much-needed instructions.
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"Within seconds the tragic accident occurred," Kandyllis told the outlet, "It was horrific." Fenton's tragic death was also described as "instantaneous" by another senior police official to The Times.
Ambulances quickly arrived and took Fenton's body to a state morgue for a post-mortem examination.
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Fenton was a former Oxford Brookes university student, The Independent reported. According to a LinkedIn page, he was a junior account executive at a social media marketing firm.
Fenton's parents did not witness the accident as they were taking a separate helicopter to Athens at the time.
The helicopter pilot of Fenton's flight and two ground crew were arrested on potential charges of negligence, The Times reported.
"All three face charges of negligent homicide," a spokesperson for the Greek police told The Independent. "They were transferred this morning to Athens where they will face a court hearing. It will be up to the judge whether to release them or remand them in custody."
"How the accident happened is still under investigation. It was a very unfortunate incident," the source added to the outlet. "We hope that the British man's family will stay strong."
Fenton's friends, all men in their 20s, provided testimony and have now returned to the U.K., the outlet reported.
Giorgos Kalliakmanis, head of the police union, told Greek media that they will investigate if the pilot allowed Fenton off the aircraft before the blades stopped spinning, per Sky News.
"These propellers run for about two minutes from the time he turns the engine off unless he presses a button which stops them at 50 seconds," Kalliakmanis said. "The helicopter door has no security, anyone who wants to open the door can get out."
"The preliminary investigation will look at whether the pilot informed them to get out when the propeller and engines stopped," shared the head of the police union.
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Kondyllis claimed that all safety regulations were followed in the landing of the Bell helicopter and disembarkation of its four passengers, The Times reported.
"In this case, both left and right doors were used by passengers to disembark. They were all escorted safely to the seating lounge. It is after [that] when the tragedy occurred," Kondyllis clarified to the outlet.
Kondyllis said that they expected to retrieve Fenton's mobile phone to examine what he was doing on the phone at the time of the tragic accident.
