An Irish teenager died in Greece just hours after printing T-shirts and posters in a desperate search for his friend who was later found at the bottom of a cliff, it has been reported.
Recent high school graduates Andrew O’Donnell and Max Wall, both 18 and from Dublin, died in separate incidents on the party island of Ios over the weekend while on holiday with friends from their school.
Mr O’Donnell went missing on Friday following a night out and his body was found in a rocky area on Sunday morning.
Police say he likely died from a head injury after falling from a cliff.
Mr Wall died while waiting for a ferry at the island’s port, after deciding to go home upon learning that his friend had passed away.
Just hours earlier he went to a print shop and made posters appealing for help to find Mr O’Donnell, Mail Online reports.
The teenager then distributed them to locals on the island and placed them around the area, appealing for people to look out for his friend.
Friends said he had been “devastated” by Mr O’Donnell’s death and decided the “party was over” and decided to go home.
About 90 students from St Michael’s College in Dublin had travelled to the Greek island to celebrate completing their Leaving Certificate exams - Ireland’s equivalent of A-Level exams.
Tim Kelleher, the school’s principal, said the local community had been left “heartbroken” over the deaths of the two “bright, sporting, academic” young men.
“We have a very tight-knit community and these were two fantastic young men with their lives ahead of them,” he told local media.
Irish deputy premier and minister for foreign affairs Micheal Martin said a consular officer was on the ground on Ios supporting the families involved.
He described the teenagers’ deaths as “devastating” and “every parent’s nightmare”.
Post-mortem examinations had been due to take place in Athens on Tuesday and both deaths continue to be investigated by police.
Two Irish police travelled to Greece to assist officers there with the investigation.
