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British boy, 17, dies after holiday drink binge in Greece
Last updated at 23:14pm on 23.07.08
A British teenager has died on a holiday drinking binge in Greece.
The 17-year-old is reported to have collapsed during a night out at the Laganas beach resort on the island of Zakynthos.
He died in the early hours of Monday, according to the Foreign Office.
Smugglers Cove on the Greek holiday island of Zakynthos, where a British boy has died after binge-drinking
Greek police said the teenager's friends abandoned him in the street where officers found him carrying no identification.
A spokesman at the Laganas police station said: 'We were only able to trace his parents in England through the dialled numbers we found on his mobile phone.'
The boy lost consciousness and collapsed outside a bar shortly after midnight.
He was taken to hospital by ambulance but was pronounced dead on arrival.
His body is being kept in the morgue at Patras University on mainland Greece and is expected to be flown back to Britain at the end of the week.
The local medical coroner's report said the teenager apparently choked and suffered a cardiac arrest from the excessive intake of alcohol.
A spokesman said: 'We can confirm the death of a British national. Next of kin have been informed and we are providing consular assistance.'
She added that a post-mortem examination will be carried out.
The teenager was identified only as coming from Sheffield.
Zakynthos this month has been the scene of a number of club orgies prompted by alcohol-fuelled parties. Several British couples have been arrested for having sex on beaches.
Last week two couples were sentenced to 20-day prison terms, which they were allowed to avoid by paying £200 fines.
The latest death follows a string of incidents in which Britons abroad have been injured or killed since Sunday.
A girl of three drowned while on holiday with her parents in Spain and a two-year-old girl on holiday in Turkey died after falling into a pool and hitting her head.
British children's author and artist Richard Kidd, 56, died in the Philippines after being swept away at a waterfall, while a British teenager on holiday in Ibiza died after taking ecstasy and cocaine.
Reader views (8)
... his friends I suspect were unaware he had been 'escorted' from the club!... He seems he was just left 'abandoned' by the clubs staff and not his friends.
- Lisa, sheffiled England
My heart goes out to the parents of this young man who tragically lost his life. Laganas seems to be the place to go his summer but I really would like to put a warning out to all the young people who are going. My son and his friends have last week returned from laganas. After 10 days they were returning back to their apartments after a night out. A girl was thrown down stairs of a club by heavy handed bouncers. My son and his friends stopped to help her up and found her friends to take her home. The bouncers thought my son was with the girl and 6 of them from the club beat my son and his friend very badly. My son was kicked in the head repeatedly and went to hospital for concussion which he had for the remaining 3 days. He never left his bed after that appalling attack on innocent victims. Please if you are travelling to zante be aware that the bouncers are the ones causing and making trouble. They carry wooden batons and do use them. Be on your guard! my thoughts are with his family and friends god bless Matthew.
- Mandy Sheffield, sheffield
.... however a young boy who I believe was a lifeguard with basic first aid knowledge did try and help as I believe he could tell the severity of the situation. Now within this time 100's of people must have walked past, some to drunk to notice others taking the making fun at the poor boy. It took 3 attempts for me to hail down a police car before they would even listen to what I had to say. Luckily a young Greek lady helped me to make them aware of the seriousness of the matter. Even still it took 45 minutes to an hour for an ambulance to arrive and by then then it was to late. I know it would be terrible for the parents to hear this but I believe it should be highlighted to avoid future incidents. This young man did not have to die, if someone actually had the heart to take responsibility or to act as a decent human being. It could have been so easily avoided. Apparently this has been the 8th death of the island from the beginning of the season in May. Something needs 2 be done! I would like to offer my condolences to his family.
- Ryan Jackson, London
Sadly I witnessed the whole incident from near enough start to finish and I am totally disgusted in the way in which this young boy was left to die. On arriving at the club i witnessed the young man being escorted out by 2 bouncers. Now he was extremely drunk and anyone with any common sense would have been aware of this. I only stayed at the club for a few minutes as the music wasn't really my cup of tea. When leaving the club we noticed the boy had been just simply placed on the floor by the side of the stairs by the bouncers with no concern for his welfare. We noticed that he was being sick yet wasn't really concious so me and my friend decided to place him in the recovery position. The saddest thing about this incident is that so many people were walking past but hardly anyone wanted to help or even bothered to acknowledge what was going on. At this point his his vomit began to thicken and he was having difficulty bringing it up. so we tried to clear it from his mouth. At this point we grew very concerned and and decided he may need medical help. When asking the one of the PR girls at the club for the 2nd time to call an ambulance they stated that it was not their job to call an ambulance which to me is extremely upsetting. We then asked a number of small business owners for help but none of them seem to know of the ambulance number. We then spotted a sign for a 24hr doctor, which was also a complete waste of time as it seemed to be closed.... continued
- Ryan Jackson, London
Was the young boy ID'd before entering the clubs and was this down to the door men? Or am I mistaken and the drink age in Laganas is 17?
- Jay, London
Makes you proud to be British (Not!)
- Ade, London
Hardly "friends" if they left him.
- Dereck, London
Hate to sound like an old dragon and a stick in the mud, but do parents really believe their children are responsible enough to go on drinking holidays under the age of 18? It's bad enough the parties, the clubs and getting plastered in their local town, but at least that's on their own turf and there has to be a certain amount of supervision whether that be parents getting a drunken phone call and playing taxi or seeing the state their child gets home in. The difference is, they know their own area, on the whole people care more than at a resort where everyone is in a state and anything goes, and because of parental presence, they physically don't do it every night of the week, unlike on holiday.
- Kitty, London
