EXCLUSIVE: Three British children are savaged by pack of up to 15 wild dogs during holiday in Athens: Horror as vicious animals attack Greek father, his son and their two cousins during walk in beauty spot

• Danny, nine, and cousins Roxy, 11, and Teddy, nine, attacked on walk by wild dogs
• Seven to 15 wild Rhodesian Ridgebacks mauled group on Greek volcano Sousaki 
• Dad Stamatis, 52, spent six days in hospital with wounds including ear mutilation
• He told MailOnline: ‘I thought I’d die. I kept asking: “How can this be the end?”‘
• WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Three British children and their Greek minder were left traumatised after a vicious attack by up to 15 wild dogs on a volcano near Athens.

Danny Kapetanios, nine, father Stamatis, 52, and cousin Roxy, 11, were bitten by wild Rhodesian Ridgebacks as they holidayed in Greece two weeks ago. 

Teddy, nine, also found himself surrounded by the terrifying wild dogs on dormant volcano Sousaki, but managed to sprint away unhurt in the August 13 horror attack.

After a six-day stint in hospital, Stamatis has finally returned home and is undergoing ‘psychological recovery’, he said.

His left arm was left paralysed in the brutal rampage, after which Stamatis had to drive 25 minutes to the nearest hospital using only one arm. 

Software developer Stamatis told MailOnline he faced the ‘greatest fear’ of his life as the pack of barking, bloodthirsty dogs surrounded the group on a public footpath.

Stamatis gives a happy thumbs up in hospital during his six-day stay to treat the horror wounds

Left to right: Unscathed Teddy, nine, hurt Danny, nine, and wounded Roxy, 11, outside hospital

Sousaki is located within south-western Greece. It is an hour’s drive from capital Athens

First spotting the pack around 300m away, it was within seconds that the dogs had got right up to the group – and had a clear ‘bloodlust’, he said. 

Tearful Stamatis explained: ‘We had walked around a kilometre on the tourist path before the dogs approached us. My first reaction was to put my body between the dogs and the children.

‘I was armed with only a backpack with the children’s water bottles. I used it to stop the dogs until they bit my arm so forcefully that it was thrown out of my arm. Then they knocked me to the ground and began biting.

‘I thought I was going to die. 

‘I kept asking myself: “How can this possibly be the end?” I was losing the will to live. I felt I didn’t have any power.’

Stamatis is pictured as he was loaded into an ambulance to be transferred to an Athens clinic

Danny was left shaken and hurt by the horror attack on the tourist hotspot volcano this month

Danny’s nurses his bite and scratch wounds at home after being vaccinated with urgent shots

Software developer Stamatis, 52, had his ear mutilated and his left arm paralysed in the attack

After Stamatis was forced out of action by the vicious animals, they chased Roxy, Danny and Teddy.

Danny’s torso was left covered in scratches and scars by the pack of Ridgeback dogs

Roxy and Danny were bitten on the elbow and bottom, while Teddy just about got away.

Seeing the children behind him forced Stamatis back into action, he said.

‘When I saw the children around 30m behind me, it filled me a reason to keep going. It gave me some kind of divine power.’

Stamatis miraculously chased down the pack and was able to scare them away, sprinting with his children back to their vehicle at the bottom of the mountain.

They then drove to A&E – but Stamatis had no use of his left arm and had lost his phone in the attack.

He said: ‘I had to drive for 20 to 25 minutes without using my left arm. It was the hardest challenge of the entire day.’ 

Stamatis’s shaken wife Alison, whose sister Suzie is mother to Roxy and Teddy, described the scene of the four attack victims arriving at A&E. 

Danny, nine, had taken this photo of the brown tourist sign directing visitors to the volcano

Ridgeback dogs were first bred in South Africa to hunt lions, but are now found worldwide

The picturesque volcano path just outside Athens is hugely popular with foreign visitors

‘Parents covered their children’s eyes to stop them seeing the bloodbath’, she said.

The children were swiftly given vaccinations, while Stamatis underwent two and a half hours of gruelling blood surgery as he had lost so much in the attack.

The father and uncle, who studied in the UK before living in Cambridge, was also given 50 stiches during a marathon six-day stay at a hospital in Athens.

He and wife Alison last week filed a lawsuit, which under Greek law targets ‘all parties responsible’ for the incident.

They said cops had reported the presence of the wild Rhodesian Ridgebacks in November 2021 – and said they were stunned that no one in the local authority had removed or destroyed the creatures.

The local government and the mayor are most likely at fault, they said, pending a police investigation.

Stamatis added: ‘The worst part for us is that this place is still open to the public.

‘If you go there, you go to meet death.’

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