Australian heads to Greece to help crying pensioner in photo

Sydney

An Australian touched by an image of a pensioner sobbing outside a Greek bank said today he was flying over to Europe to support the man financially after discovering he was a family friend.

Giorgos Chatzifotiadis, 77, broke down in Greece's second city of Thessaloniki last week and cried in despair after he failed at four different financial institutions to withdraw a pension of 120 euros (US$132) on behalf of his wife.

The picture of him sitting on the ground was captured by an AFP photographer and went around the world, starkly illustrating how ordinary Greeks are suffering during the country's debt crisis.

James Koufos, an Australian-born chief executive of a finance firm, saw the photo published in Sydney and thought the retiree looked "so much like a friend of my dad's".

The 41-year-old said he was talking to his mother, who lives in Greece, on Facebook and she confirmed Chatzifotiadis was an old friend of his late father, who died 18 months ago.

"When I saw this, I said to mum, 'What can we do?'," Koufos told AFP.

"I got my mother to take out some cash, to find the man and give him some immediate support."

Koufos also put out an emotional appeal on Facebook to locate Chatzifotiadis, and has since set up a trust fund welcoming further contributions. He is set to depart Sydney on Saturday for Athens, before heading to Thessaloniki to meet the pensioner.