Community 'devastated' after deaths of Dublin teenagers on Greek island

Tributes have been paid to the two teenagers, Andrew O’Donnell and Max Wall, as “bright, sporting, academic” young men.

The bodies of two Leaving Cert students who died tragically while on a post-exam holiday in Greece will be taken to Athens on Tuesday for post-mortem, according to their school principal.

Andrew O’Donnell and Max Wall, both 18, went on a trip with school friends to the Greek island of Ios last week when tragedy struck over the weekend.

Andrew went missing on Friday and after an intensive search, his remains were found near a cliff on the island on Sunday. It is understood he may have fallen. On the same day, Max fell ill near the port area of the island and was rushed to hospital where he passed away.

St Michael’s College in south Dublin, where both boys had recently graduated, released a statement saying: “Our thoughts are with Andrew O’Donnell and Max Wall’s family and friends at this awful time. We offer our sincerest condolences to the Class of 2023, the school staff, and the pupils. The union is here to support the school staff and past pupil population at this difficult time”.

St Michael’s principal, Tim Kelleher, told the Irish Examiner the school and surrounding community is “devastated”. He explained that the Tánaiste contacted the school this morning to pass on his condolences.

“He told us there are 1,000 students on the island, celebrating finishing their Leaving Cert” he said. “And of those 90 are from St Michaels.

South Dublin is a small parish, all the schools know each other, they play against each other, they are friends with each other, there are older siblings and friends all over the area who are deeply devastated. It is a tight-knit community.

“When something like this happens there is a lot of hysteria, and a lot of fear and parents are ringing, and everyone is traumatised especially the boys who were with Andrew and Max. They are traumatised. They just want to come home and will be all home in the next 48 hours.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs said the remains of Andrew and Max will be brought at 8am tomorrow to Athens for a post-mortem. Following that, they will be released to their families later in the week. Then arrangements will be made to bring them home. The consular service will accompany the families tomorrow.” 

'Hugely popular' pair

Mr Kelleher said Andrew and Max were “hugely popular with a bright future” ahead of them.

“Andrew was a lovely boy; he was very bright and academic. He really had a wonderful future ahead of him he was great at football and very outgoing," Mr Kelleher said.

“Max too, he was more of a rugby player, very very disciplined and very bright, also very academic. They were a close group of boys.

“This is a turning point in their friends’ lives too, it is extremely hard for them. They are so shocked.

The death of a friend is a life-long trauma. They may be 18 but they are still so young.

Flowers have been left outside the school where the two students attended. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Mr Kelleher said the school will be open for the rest of the week and that counsellors and the chaplain service will be available. 

"The Department of Education has been extremely helpful and offered us plenty of experienced services, as well as the Department of Foreign Affairs.”

The trip for the Leaving Cert students had been planned for the past few months.

Mr Kelleher added: “I personally have never dealt with anything like this, you have deaths obviously in the school, sudden deaths and boys who were sick, but this is deeply devastating.

“The families and boys are all in a terrible state and they just want to come home now and we must deal with this as best we can, but we will be here for all of them, families too.

“Our priority is the support for Andrew and Max’s family. Every parent feels this because it is every parent’s nightmare. We have opened a book of condolences and we will be here for all of them”.

A woman lays flowers outside St MichaelÕs College in Dublin 4 this morning. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Tom McCormack, of the school’s past pupils union, said that the events of the weekend had been a double tragedy for the school.

“Our thoughts are with the families and the boys of the class of 2023 who were celebrating what should be their next step in their careers. It was a devastating day. We've been heartened by the huge volume of messages of support from Government ministers, councillors, senators and other schools.

"Our sister school, St Mary's eight years ago suffered the Berkeley tragedy. And we are now experiencing our darkest day and our sincere thanks to everybody who has come through primarily on social media over the last 24 hours when news of Andrew's body first broke and then a few hours later we heard that Max had passed away in hospital.”