Four New Yorkers, including a newly married couple, were among the six people killed when a building collapsed in Athens, Greece, last week, along with the bride’s brother and sister-in-law and the structure’s owners, according to officials from both countries.
Ian Alexander Kirkpatrick was 37, and his wife, Florida Hoxha, was 34. Her older brother, Florin Hoxha, and his wife, Eris Cani, also died when a suspected gas leak triggered an explosion that toppled the building in the Greek capital’s historic Plaka district last Friday, Newsday reported. Cani, an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at the Touro College of Pharmacy in Manhattan, was five-and-a-half-months pregnant.
The two non-American victims, 78-year-old British national Edmond Hings, and his Greek wife, Athena Papaprescou, 77, owned the building, the officials told Newsday. Two people in an adjacent building were injured, ABC News reported, citing Athens Mayor Haris Doukas and fire officials. Some nearby buildings were damaged and evacuated.
The U.S. Department of State also confirmed the American deaths. U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle said she was “deeply saddened” and expressed her “deepest appreciation” to first responders “who worked tirelessly at the scene,” noting that the U.S. Embassy was providing assistance and support to the victims’ families.
Kirkpatrick and Hoxha married in August and had spent a week in Mexico before meeting up with her brother and sister-in-law in Athens and had been there for nine days, according to ABC News. Both couples had been staying at the three-story Airbnb rental near the ancient Acropolis. The new husband and wife were hours away from leaving and had already checked in for their Delta flight.
Kirkpatrick grew up in Huntington, on Long Island, and the Hoxhas hailed originally from the Bronx. Florida Hoxha, a senior attorney at the New York Legal Assistance Group, represented immigrants faced with potential eviction and was active in Westchester County politics. Kirkpatrick had worked at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group as a regulatory and compliance officer after working at a startup in China. He spoke Chinese and “had a zest for life,” his mother told Newsday. She compared her new daughter-in-law to the sun.
Hoxha was mourned in Westchester County as a “dedicated community servant” who always jumped to help when needed, Westchester County Board of Legislators chairman Vedat Gashi said at the board’s meeting Monday, before holding a moment of silence.
“She was committed to helping through her work,” Gashi said, according to Newsday. “It’s a tragic loss.”