Sisters acknowleged their brother’s death through Facebook
A Sydney family have learned via Facebook of the death of Bobby Vourlis, their 17-year-old son, who was killed in a fatal car crash.
Twins Angela and Maryanne Vourlis had just woken up on their 17th birthday. Like most young adults, they logged onto Facebook to check their walls and inboxes for birthday greetings.
Instead of finding happy birthday wishes, the two twins found messages of “RIP Bobby” (their brother) and “RIP Chris Naylor” (a friend of his) all across their Facebook news feeds. Completely shocked, baffled, and hurt, the two rang their brother’s phone in the hopes it was a mistake. It was to no avail.
Becoming increasingly concerned, their mother then rang the local police station to ask if the messages were correct.
An officer then confirmed her son had died in the crash six hours earlier.
Sydney police have since been forced to defend their actions, saying the family were informed because authorities had been unable to confirm the dead teenager’s identify.
Once his identity was confirmed, one police station contacted another to send a car to the Vourlis family home.
But in the meantime, said Superintendent Ray Filewood, Mrs Vourlis made contact with police who then confirmed the death of her son.
Peter Matelis, the dead teenager’s uncle, said it “beggared belief” that police had not contacted the family immediately after the accident.
“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare to lose a child in a car accident, but to have to hear it on Facebook, then have to chase up the police yourself, is just horrifying,” he said.
Mr Naylor, a probationery driver and the crashed car’s owner, was driving the group of friends home when he apparently lost control in heavy rain, local reports said.
His powerful Ford Falcon XR6 car was said to have crossed two lanes of the highway, before slamming into a street lamp.
Two other unnamed girls, aged 16 and 17, who were also travelling in their car survived and have since undergone emergency surgery in hospital.
A group has been created on Facebook in Bobby’s memory, almost 2600 members joining and hundreds of people paying tribute.
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