Gkoga Levian, the man from Albania who dove into the Arachthos river to save a 12-year-old and 14-year-old who had been swept away by the river waters last June, was honored in a simple ceremony at the Maximos Mansion by Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis honors with citizenship the hero who dove into Arachthos to save two children
The Prime Minister proceeded with the honorary naturalization of the Albanian citizen, the hero who risked his life for the two children. It should be noted that Gkoga Levian was a guest of the President of the Republic, Kostas Tassoulas, at the reception for the restoration of Democracy last July.
See images from the ceremony:
The timeline
The two children, aged 12 and 15 years old, dove into the waters of the Arachthos river at the height of Neochorion in Arta, along with other children on Wednesday afternoon (11/6), after completing their school exams. However, they were swept away by the river waters, with the other two children rushing for help.
Thanks to the intervention of Gkoga Levian, the children were pulled from the water unconscious and transferred to the hospital. Unfortunately, despite the agonizing efforts of intensive care specialists at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Rio University Hospital, the children died on Friday morning (13/6), with their parents deciding to donate their organs, giving life to other children.
As Gkoga Levian had stated immediately after the incident, visibly moved: “I am a foreigner, I did good, whatever race they are. May no one need this. I did good, nothing else. I think of my children”.
