An explosion occurred early Friday in a building located in Athens’ historic Plaka district, just below the Acropolis. Six individuals are reported missing as a result of the incident, including three tourists. Rescue operations are currently underway to locate those unaccounted for.
According to information provided to the rescue teams and reported by the newspaper Kathimerini, the second floor of the building was occupied by an elderly couple and the first floor by three American tourists, in a short-term rental. The blast on a small street shook the area, which is normally busy with hundreds of foreign visitors. Police revised the number of tourists upwards to four. Rescue teams were using excavators to clear debris and thermal cameras to try to locate anyone trapped there, footage from the public television channel ERT showed.
ERT said investigators believe the explosion, which happened at around 7:30 am (0430 GMT), before the collapse of the building, was caused by a gas leak.
The police said they were looking for six people missing after the explosion. The fire service had earlier said they included two elderly people who lived in the building’s top floor, and three tourists believed to have rented the apartment below. “A search and rescue operation with a dog is underway to find anyone who may be trapped,” a fire department spokeswoman told AFP earlier.
Tourists Missing After Check-Out Time
A family of tourists failed to check out of their rented accommodation by the scheduled time of 11:00 am, according to Kathimerini. In a troubling development, a woman’s bag was discovered in the debris of the apartment, raising concerns about the family’s safety.
Another person was slightly injured by debris. Neighbouring buildings and vehicles parked nearby were damaged. The historic Plaka district, where the building is located, is one of the most touristy areas of Athens. It is near Hadrian’s Arch, one of the main monuments from the Roman period in the Greek capital, where the tourist season continues to be in full swing. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
The owner of the ground floor apartment, Mathaios Artavanis, interviewed by Kathimerini, said he had tried to contact “the elderly couple, around 70 years old, since the morning” without success. Athens city planning services were mobilised to check the stability of nearby buildings, Mayor Haris Doukas told a local radio station.
Earlier, two women were rescued from an adjacent building and taken to hospital.
