Details of the final hours of a Dublin student who died in a fall on the resort island of Ios have been pieced together by Greek police.
Andrew O’Donnell, 18, had been socializing with friends at a number of venues throughout the evening before finally deciding to call it a night at 1:30am.
It was when he tried to find his way back to his hotel excavations alone in the dark that he appears to have lost his way and fallen onto rocky ground within sight of the hotel.
Andrew’s friend and schoolmate Max Wall, also 18, had helped search for him in the hours before his body was found the next day. Max then collapsed and died himself shortly after hearing the news that Andrew had been found dead.
Full details of Andrew’s evening that preceded this double tragedy have now emerged in a police report based on interviews with numerous witnesses.
Details of the final hours of Dublin student Andrew O’Donnell (left) who died in a fall on the resort island of Ios last weekend have been pieced together by Greek police. Andrew’s friend and schoolmate Max Wall, also 18 (right), tragically died hours after O’Donnell was found.
Andrew had been socializing with friends at a number of places throughout the night before finally deciding to call it a night at 1:30 am. It was when he tried to find his way back to the hotel excavations by himself in the dark that he appears to have gotten lost and fallen onto rocky ground (pictured) within sight of the hotel.
The police report describes that the group from Dublin arrived in Ios at around 2pm on June 30. Andrew was staying at the Homer’s Inn hotel (pictured), where he shared a room with Senan Henry, also 18.
The investigation has found that Andrew had been out socializing within hours of arriving on the Greek island – a magnet for young people who want to celebrate events like finishing high school, as Andrew and Max just did – last Friday.
Andrew and Max were among 70 students from St Michael’s College Dublin who had come to Ios to celebrate the end of their secondary education.
The group was booked to stay at several separate hotels, as the number of attendees meant they couldn’t find just one to accommodate the entire group.
The police report describes that the group from Dublin arrived in Ios at around 2pm on June 30. Andrew was staying at the Homer’s Inn hotel, where he shared a room with Senan Henry, also 18.
After settling in, the couple took a bus together to Milopatas beach around 7 pm to start the night.
Andrew and Senan first went to the FarOut Beach Club, a popular spot for young people on vacation in Ios, arriving shortly before 8:00 p.m.
The two stayed there until 10:00 pm and then decided to walk to Disco 69, described as the “hottest” nightspot on Ios.
It’s located on a strip in Hora, the main town on the island, where it’s one of several strip bars and clubs that are popular with young people and are generally busy until the early hours of the morning.
The report says: ‘At 11:00 p.m. they arrived in the town where they went to Disco 69 for entertainment and consumed alcohol. Senan informed us that his friend Andrew left on foot for the lodging where they were staying.
According to the report, Senan reported Andrew missing to Greek police on Saturday morning, and the official time of his disappearance was 3 a.m. on July 1, just over 12 hours after he arrived in Ios.
Flowers are seen placed near the spot where Andrew’s body was found on Sunday.
That was the last time his mobile phone showed his location and it showed that Andrew was near the Homer’s Inn hotel.
It is believed that he may have slipped and fell after getting lost while trying to make his way back on foot over broken ground, within sight of the hotel.
Her body was finally found around 1:00 pm on Sunday, July 2, in bushes on a rocky slope overlooking Homer’s Inn.
The report says: “He [Senan] reported that at 0300 hours on 01-07-2023 it appears in the search application of his mobile phone that O’Donnell Andrew of Gavin was outside the Homers Inn Hotel. Since then she lost track of him and lost contact with him.
The police report also states that Andrew’s father, Gavin, himself called the Ios police station on the evening of July 1 from his home in Dublin and also reported his son missing, leaving his phone number for the police. agents kept him informed of any news.
Panos Gkikakis, the manager of the Homer’s Inn hotel, told MailOnline he was on duty when Senan returned without Andrew after his night out.
He said: ‘He only asked for a spare key for the room they shared because they only had one and he was with Andrew.
“He told me that they had parted ways but he was going to bed because he was sure Andrew would be here soon because his location showed he was nearby.
“It wasn’t until the next morning that we all started to worry. That night I went with his friends to the top of the slope where they finally found Andrew to look for him. But it was dark and we saw nothing.
The friends of the two Irish students are seen forming an honor guard on the island of Ios earlier in the week when the bodies of their two friends left the Greek island.
“It’s very sad to think that he was lying there for so long, but he was so close to us.”
The final results of the autopsies on Andrew and Max are not expected for another ten days, but Greek sources have indicated that Andrew died from a fall from a height where he sustained a concussion.
It is believed that Max had an existing heart condition that may have contributed to his death.
A medical source in Ios said: “We are waiting for the full results of the toxicological analysis being carried out by specialists from the University of Crete.”
I am Rakesh Sharma, I associated with Elite News as an Editor, since 2021. I take care of all the news operations like content, budget, hiring and policy making.