Make New York Post a Preferred Source New York newlyweds, the bride’s brother, and his pregnant wife have been identified as the four Americans who were killed in a building collapse in Athens, Greece.
Ian Alexander Kirkpatrick, 37, and his 34-year-old wife, Florida Hoxha, died alongside her older brother, Florin Hoxha, and his wife, Eris Cani, in the accident in the Greek capital on Sept. 25, less than a month after their nuptials, Newsday reported.
on Sept. 25, less than a month after their Aug. 30 nuptials, alongside her older brother, Florin Hoxha, and his wife, Eris Cani, Newsday reported.
Investigators suspect a gas leak triggered an explosion which caused their two-story Airbnb, located in Athens’ historic Plaka district, to buckle.
Kirkpatrick and Hoxha, a senior lawyer and Bronx native, exchanged vows in a Long Island ceremony on Aug. 30.
The couple spent a week in Mexico before jetting out to Greece, where they spent nine days on their honeymoon.
They were killed the day they were scheduled to return to the US. The couple had already checked in for their Delta flight, but failed to show up at the Athens airport.
Kirkpatrick, a 2007 graduate of Huntington High, worked in Williamsburg, Va., as a research analyst for Strategic Analysis Enterprises before jetting out to China, where he worked as an intern for Citi, according to his Linkedin.
He spent two years as an analyst at the Chinese marketplace firm, Dianrong, between June 2012 and June 2014 before moving back to New York to work in banking for seven years.
Kirkpatrick had been working for the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, a Japanese financial services company, for the past five years.
Kirkpatrick’s mom, Suzanne Nelson, has described him as “just a wonderful, incredible human being.”
“He was creative. He spoke Chinese. He had a zest for life,” she told Newsday.
She said Kirkpatrick’s wife of just one month was like “the sun in the solar system.”
Florida Hoxha, a graduate of the City University of New York School of Law and Emory University, was also in Greece with her brother, Florin Hoxha – who was killed in the accident alongside his wife, Eris Cani, who was five-and-a-half months pregnant.
Florida Hoxha had worked for the New York Legal Assistance Group for five years, but she held political aspirations, according to Westchester County legislator Vedat Gashi.
“She cared deeply about her environment,” he told ABC7. “We have similar backgrounds. We’re both Albanian Americans. And she had a deep passion for helping other people.”
Gashi described his friend as someone who was “smart, ambitious and devoted to her community.”
“I was deeply impressed by her, and I was excited to see where her passion and drive would take her,” he said. “That future was taken far too soon.”
Emory University alumnus Florin Hoxha, 36, was also killed. He co-founded the construction company, Prufock Builders, alongside his brother, Clyde.
Meanwhile, his wife, Cani, was an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Touro College, a private university steeped in Jewish tradition.
Her background has always been in pharmacy since starting as an intern at Rite Aid in Philadelphia at 2007, where she worked for seven years.
She graduated from Temple University School of Science and Technology in 2009 before receiving her doctorate in 2014.
Cani practiced at the Bronx Lebanon Hospital, specializing in infectious diseases, and held residencies at the Einstein Medical Center in Pennsylvania and the SUNY Downstate campus in Brooklyn.
Edmond Hings, 78, and his Greek wife of 11 years Athena Papaprescou, 77, were also killed.
Greek authorities are still investigating the cause of the building collapse – almost a week later.
Investigators believe a gas leak happened in the apartment where Hings and his wife were staying.
But officials are now examining adjacent buildings after they were “deemed dangerous,” Paris Charlaftis, the Athens deputy mayor, told Greek outlet To Vima.
“The question is whether there is a risk that they could collapse, whether they are on the verge of collapse,” he said.
