The line of several hundred Irish teenagers stretched from the port up to the medical centre of the Greek island of Ios, all standing silently as the bodies of Andrew O’Donnell and Max Wall were placed on a ferry leaving the island.
The pair, both 18-year-olds who had been St Michael’s College classmates on a post-Leaving Cert holiday, died within a day of each other last weekend.
As the bodies were taken to Athens where postmortems will try to establish the cause of both deaths, a large group from the south Dublin school on the holiday stood in a solemn guard of honour as the ferry pulled away.
Some placed yellow roses on the passing coffins as a symbol of friendship, said several people present.
Students from other schools gathered along either side of the road to the port in near total silence on Tuesday morning, as a mark of respect.
Sofia Toka, who works in a ferry company’s office by the port, said it was a touching tribute to the two teenagers. “The respect, they don’t move, they have their heads down. So silent as they say goodbye in their own way,” she told The Irish Times.
After the postmortems are completed, preparations will be made to repatriate the bodies to Ireland for the two funerals.
Elsewhere, near a hill on the outskirts of the island’s main town of Hora, a small bouquet of flowers marks the spot where Andrew O’Donnell’s body was found on Sunday morning. It is suspected he fell down the steep slope of the rocky hill while walking home from a night out on the island.
Across the other side of the town, a bundle of pink flowers on a side street near the island’s port has been placed near where Max Wall collapsed and later died, just hours after the discovery of his classmate’s body.
Several of the St Michael’s group, including Max, had undertaken a significant search effort to find their missing friend, circulating messages on social media and handing out missing-person fliers to local businesses.
Now, the students are returning home, to say goodbye in their own way.
