Intensive resuscitation efforts by rescue crews and physicians at a hospital in the northwest city of Arta kept two teens alive after they were nearly drowned in a river.
The incident shocked public opinion in Greece on Wednesday, as initial reports had the 15- and 14-year-old perishing from drowning. Their condition was later reported as critical, nevertheless, with the teens later transported to a children’s hospital ICU in Patras.
The unfortunate pair were part of a larger group of youths that had gone swimming in the Arachthos River that flows in mountainous Ioannina and Arta prefectures. A sudden surge in the water level, possibly due to the spillover from an upstream dam, caused the river to quickly swell, with all but the two managing to reach the river banks. According to reports, the younger teen wasn’t a very experienced swimmer and was pulled under the water. The second teen tried to come to his aid. The pair was pulled out the of the water by adults using a boat.
Physicians detected water in the teens’ lungs.
