BRIAN DROWNED AT SEA FLEEING FROM GREEK FIRE
Report reveals newlywed couple became separated in cloud of ash
AN Irish honeymooner drowned at sea while fleeing the horrific inferno that engulfed the Greek town of Mati, a new report has shown.
Brian O’Callaghan-Westropp was one of dozens of people who dived into the sea to escape the fire, which killed more than 90 people. At that stage he had already
suffered scorch marks to his body as searing flames surrounded terrified holidaymakers and locals.
Brian, who regularly carried out charity work in Ireland, had been separated from his wife Zoe just moments earlier.
The heartbreaking desperation of the newlywed in his final moments has now been laid bare in a Coast Guard report.
Already burned by falling ash when he reached the sea, the bighearted Clare man drowned trying to escape the intense heat of the smoke that swept over the water.
His body was floating in the sea for five hours before it was picked up at 10pm that night by the Greek Coast Guard. A rescue boat rushed him to an ambulance and he was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The cause of death was later recorded as death by drowning when his body was transferred to Athens for an autopsy. The details of his death are included in a report by a Coast Guard first responder that was transferred to the coroner’s office in Athens.
The report has provided some
He had burns to his arms and back
answers as to what happened to Brian after he became separated from his wife, Zoe Holohan, as wildfires spread across the coastal resort where they were staying. The couple had been honeymooning in Greece and had only married in Co. Meath four days before the tragedy on Monday, July 23.
A Greek official who shared the report with the Irish Daily Mail said that Mr O’CallaghanWestropp became separated from Zoe on the southern side of Mati where she was offered a place in the boot of a car by a Greek family picking up panicked tourists.
There were already three adults in the front of the car and six children in the back, and only room in the boot. Zoe jumped in as the burning ash rained down.
Brian was with a group of people who rushed to the beach in Mati as the flames intensified. He already had burn marks on his arms and back when he entered the water to go to Evia Island.
The official dealing with his case said the first-responder report could not be released until Brian’s identity was officially confirmed using family DNA samples.
The ferocity and heat of the smoke pouring over the water as people fled was revealed by one of the survivors of the sea escape, Katherina Mytilinaiou.
Fighting back tears, she told the Mail of seeing people jump under water to escape the fiery plumes.
She swam for over five and a half hours with her two children on her back. Alex, aged six and Jorge, aged three, were saved by lying on Katherina’s back and hugging her neck and shoulder as she swam.
‘There were people running and jumping into the water all along the beach, none of us had any option except to swim as far out as we could because the smoke was so hot, we could not breathe, even in the water,’ she said.
Katherina and her sons were found on the beach about an hour after Mr O’Callaghan-Westropp’s body was found and taken ashore just metres away.
Shortly after Mr O’Callaghan- Westropp jumped into the sea, a fireman named Manos Tsaliagos spotted Zoe in the boot of the car she had fled in. She was falling unconscious in the intense heat which had already killed people in cars stalled near her.
Mr Tsaliagos poured water over her dress which smouldered in several places as burning cinders landed on her. He then carried her into the fire truck. At the fire house in nearby Rafina, a nurse, Irini Chatzmathiou, carried out first aid on Zoe, who suffered serious burns to her body.
Zoe was able to speak for the first time, and told them that her husband was still trapped in Mati. They said they would try to find him and she was rushed to hospital in Athens, where doctors said she had 17% burns.
The recovery of Brian’s body at least offered some closure to the O’Callaghan-Westropp family. There are still 25 people missing in Mati, the majority of whom are believed to be lost at sea.
Brian had been living in Dublin with Zoe and was known for his charity work, including delivering blood to hospitals with the motorbike group, Blood Bikes.
Zoe’s dress was smouldering