At a glance
- Max Wall and Andew O’Donnell died in separate incidents on the Greek island of Ios at the weekend
- Both men were 18 and had just finished St Michael’s College in Dublin
- Post-mortem examinations are to be carried out in Athens on Tuesday
- The principal of St Michael’s described them as “two fantastic young men with their lives ahead of them”
Post-mortem examinations are to be carried out on Tuesday on two teenagers from Dublin who died on the Greek island of Ios.
Andrew O’Donnell and Max Wall were both 18 and former pupils at St Michael’s College.
Andrew went missing after a night out on Friday and his body was found in a rocky area on Sunday morning. It is thought he may have fallen.
Max died hours later by the port on the island, Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported.
The principal of St Michael’s, Tim Kelleher, said the school community is “absolutely devastated” over the deaths.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said: “We are heartbroken. We have a very tight-knit community and these are two fantastic young men with their lives ahead of them.
“Bright, sporting, academic men who had their whole life ahead of them and looking forward to this particular trip for months on end and the planning had been ongoing, not just in our school but in lots of other schools.
“So, I think there are hundreds and hundreds of families this morning plunged into deep, deep sadness because of what has occurred. And again we are reeling with it,” he said.
‘Every parent’s nightmare’
“It’s exactly the nightmare that every parent dreads when group holidays and big groups of children go away.
“You just don’t want to get the call to say your child is missing, but two of our families have had that call and we are devastated for them and our hearts are broken and our sympathy goes to them all.”
Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said the Irish Embassy in Athens is providing consular support and a consular officer is “on the ground” in Ios.
“Many of their friends are out there in Ios and it’s a very, very difficult time for them now, and we’d just ask them to look after each other over the next number of days,” Mr Martin told RTÉ.
The post-mortem examinations are to be carried out in Athens on Tuesday before the bodies are repatriated in the following days.
Source : BBC