MOSCOW. Nov 15 (Interfax-AVN) - An aircraft group of the Russian Emergencies Ministry involved in extinguishing forest fires in Greece has accomplished its mission, chief of the ministry's aviation Lieutenant General Rafail Zakirov told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
"During five months of working in Greece, the group employing four MI-8MTV and MI-26T Halo helicopters flew 507 sorties to extinguish forest fires; the total number of flight hours amounts to 455h 12min," Zakirov said.
He stressed that all the helicopters were fitted with Russian- made water-dropping systems with a capacity of five to 15t. As a result, some 16,000t of water were dropped on fire epicenters.
The Greek leadership praised the work of the Russian aviators, efficiency of new fire-fighting technologies and reliability of Russian aircraft, Zakirov added.