Seniors at the 2nd high school of the town of Alexandria, in northern Greece, arrived at Thessaloniki on Thursday night minus one of their classmates, who fell from the balcony of a hotel they had stayed at in Rome during a five-day school trip.

Circumstances surrounding the fall of the teenaged girl from the second floor of the hotel off Cristoforo Colombo street in central Rome are still unknown as she fights for her life at a Rome hospital. She underwent surgery following head injuries sustained and she is currently in intensive care. A hospital representative said doctors are reserved regarding the outcome of the operation.

The Secondary Education Director in Imathia Anastasia Mavridou told Proto Thema that “this is a really difficult time. The girl has been hospitalized in critical condition and is currently undergoing surgery. Her parents have already arrived in Rome. However, we don’t know how it all happened yet. Local police are investigating the incident. The rest of the children who were on the trip have returned home.” Mavridou said that the accident took place after dinner as the students went to their rooms to prepare for their planned departure on Thursday.

The Italian media reported pupils were “horse playing” in the room, possibly under the influence of alcohol, when the incident occurred. However representatives of the school categorically denied these allegations.

Italian police investigating the accident did not make an announcement concerning the accident after speaking with the two girls who shared the room with the 17-year-old as well as teachers supervising the trip. Police told Proto Thema that they received the news of the accident at 11 p.m. on Wednesday and there was an ambulance already at the scene upon their arrival. The police say the girl was unconscious when they arrived at the scene.

Theoharis Hatzimichail, head of the Parents and Teachers Association of the high school that the girl attendended, said that the students had not been drinking and that the trip had gone according to plan until the girl’s tragic fall. “The trip was in the framework of an ordinary 5-day school trip that had been carefully planned,” he said. “Before the accident, the kids returned to the hotel at around 6 p.m. and then had dinner before going to their rooms to prepare for their return (on Thursday. The girl was a normal kid for her age who had chosen to study in the strand of humanities.”

Ethnos newspaper states that the school’s headmaster Nikos Katsianidis said he had been informed by teachers that the student in question did not feel well throughout the day and had been given an analgesic. She felt sick while heading to her room. She spoke with her mother by shortly before she fell from the balcony.

The teen had been taken to the room with a teacher and two classmates when she complained that she felt sick. In one of the versions of what transpired it is stated that her two female roommates were with her, while another states that a boy and a girl were with her. At some point, the teacher left the students to go to the lobby and when she returned she found out what had happened. It is uncertain as to why the 17-year-old went out onto the balcony.

“We don’t know if she felt dizzy, if she slipped or if something else happened. It is up to the police investigation now. All we know is that there was no party or dangerous game being played,” says Hatzimihail.

The young girl’s unfortunate parents immediately rushed to Rome to be by the young girl’s side as are representatives of the Greek Embassy. Ethnos reports that doctors have said that the situation is crucial and are reserved in making further statements regarding the girl’s health. It is still unknown whether a second operation would be needed.