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Firefighters recovered the bodies of a man and a young woman on Saturday while clearing twisted metal and concrete slabs from the collapsed structure in the Plaka neighborhood, a Greek fire brigade official told Reuters. The explosion the previous morning injured three people, two of whom were women rescued from an adjacent building and taken to hospital while a passer-by suffered minor injuries from flying debris. According to Reuters the blast sent rubble and broken glass up to three blocks away, damaging nearby houses, shops, parked cars and even a church in the historic tourist area.
Athens Mayor Haris Doukas stated that the explosion was likely linked to gas infrastructure and added that something went terribly wrong. A police source told eKathimerini that the second floor of the building had a natural gas connection serving the kitchen and fireplace of the apartment occupied by an elderly couple. Officials from the fire service and police continued their investigation on site throughout the weekend without ruling out other possible causes, Reuters reported.
The four people still missing include an elderly British national and his 77-year-old Greek wife who lived on the upper floor as well as four American tourists who had rented the first-floor apartment through a short-term platform and missed their scheduled Delta Airlines flight from Athens airport, according to a police source cited by multiple outlets including eKathimerini. The tourists, described as two couples aged between 30 and 40, had been expected to check out on Friday afternoon but never appeared, a separate police source told Reuters. Search crews involving 30 firefighters, six vehicles, three sniffer dogs and geophones for detecting signs of life paused operations at regular intervals while removing debris, the fire service told eKathimerini.
Plaka lies at the foot of the Acropolis, Greece’s most visited ancient monument that draws millions of international tourists each year to its narrow streets filled with cafes and souvenir shops, according to data from the Greek tourism ministry. Local resident Andreas Martzaklis told reporters on the scene that the force felt as if the whole building, the whole block blew off and that is how strong it was. Mayor Doukas, who visited the cordoned-off area, described the situation as very complex and noted that neighboring buildings had been evacuated as a precaution, AP reported.
The blast occurred at around 7:35 a.m. on Friday in the two-storey building on Lysikratous Street close to Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Zeus, reducing it to a pile of shattered tiles and household items strewn among the wreckage, according to footage and descriptions from Reuters. A woman’s handbag containing passports and a rental agreement was among items recovered from the rubble, eKathimerini reported. Fire service crews continued working into the weekend with excavators to carefully clear the site while assessing whether adjacent structures remained safe, a fire brigade official stated.
Investigators have not yet released a final determination on the cause although witnesses reported smelling gas shortly before the blast, according to information provided to Kathimerini. The incident has drawn attention to safety standards in historic districts where many buildings date back decades and host both residents and short-term tourist rentals, a pattern noted in earlier Greek fire service assessments of urban risk zones. Operations were expected to proceed with caution to avoid further collapses while authorities maintained a police cordon around the affected blocks.
