An explosion on Friday morning brought down a residential building in Athens' historic Plaka district, at the foot of the Acropolis, killing six people. Four of the dead are believed to be Americans: a family renting an apartment in the building who were getting ready to fly home that day.
By Saturday, rescuers had recovered six bodies from the rubble, according to authorities cited by PBS News. Athens Mayor Haris Doukas has said a major gas leak was believed to be behind the blast. No official cause has been announced, and a team from the Arson Crimes Division is among those investigating.
The collapse has also raised pointed questions about gas safety in one of the city's oldest neighborhoods. A year before the explosion, Plaka residents warned the city and utility companies in writing about the danger of gas leaks and short circuits, according to a letter published by the Greek newspaper Kathimerini and reported by CBS News. No response to that letter has been reported.
Who was killed in the Athens building collapse
Papers and personal items recovered alongside four of the dead, two men and two women, suggested they held U.S. citizenship, Greek state broadcaster ERT and other local outlets reported, according to PBS.
Euronews reported Saturday that the bodies had not yet been formally identified, so their nationality has not been officially confirmed.
Kathimerini reported that the four were a family renting the building's first-floor apartment, and that they had planned to leave for the airport later on Friday for the trip home, CBS News reported. Citing The New York Times, CBS said the group was a couple, their son and his girlfriend.
Greek authorities have not released their names, ages or hometowns.
The remaining two victims were an older couple who made their home on the building's second floor: a British man and his Greek wife, according to ERT as cited by CBS. Euronews said he was 78 and she was 77.
The search stretched into Saturday. Roughly 30 firefighters took part, backed by six vehicles and three specially trained dogs, Euronews reported. Crews relied on geophones, sensitive listening devices, to pick up any noise from under the debris, and on specialist cameras to probe gaps where someone could have been trapped.
On Saturday, AFP journalists at the scene observed diggers hauling away debris and crews working with thermal-imaging cameras, CBS reported. By then, according to Euronews, fire crews were winding down the operation.
What investigators have said about the cause
Doukas pointed to a major gas leak as the suspected trigger for the explosion, PBS reported. "We are talking about an incredible disaster," the mayor said, according to CBS News.
His assessment has not been formally confirmed. On Friday, Euronews reported that Greek media had pointed to a gas leak but that authorities had not confirmed it.
By Saturday, the outlet said, officials were still working to establish the cause. Fire, police and medical crews remained at the scene, and the Arson Crimes Division team was investigating.
No person, company or agency has been accused of wrongdoing or charged in connection with the blast, and Doukas has not publicly assigned responsibility. The company that supplies gas to the building has not been publicly identified, and no statement from a gas utility has been reported.
A citizens' group said on social media that a resident of the street had alerted authorities after smelling what may have been a gas leak, CBS reported. That claim has not been confirmed. Authorities have not said publicly whether any such report was received or what was done about it.
The warning Plaka residents sent a year earlier
The letter published by Kathimerini came from the neighborhood's residents' association. In it, locals cautioned the city and utility companies that the district faced a risk of gas leaks or short circuits, CBS reported.
The residents also asked for a fire drill to expose weak points in Plaka's emergency response plans. Whether the city or the utilities replied, or whether any drill took place, has not been reported.
The letter does not establish what caused Friday's explosion. It does show that people living in Plaka raised gas and electrical hazards, and doubts about emergency readiness, well before the building came down.
A damaged neighborhood at the foot of the Acropolis
The blast threw rubble across the street, damaged cars and neighboring buildings and started a fire, Euronews said in its initial report on Friday. Police sealed off the area.
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According to the fire department, two women in an adjacent building on Lysikratous Street were hurt, PBS reported. Euronews said two women were freed from a nearby building and taken to hospital, and that another person suffered minor injuries from flying debris.
Everyone rescued from the neighboring building was a tourist, a resident said, according to CBS. The injured women's current condition has not been reported.
Doukas said neighboring buildings were damaged and evacuated. Two nearby buildings were in a dangerous state, he said, and were being inspected "to determine if they can remain standing or if they also have to be demolished," CBS reported.
The First Greek Evangelical Church, close to the blast site, was badly hit, with glass shattered in windows across the building, Euronews reported.
Separately, PBS reported that the pastor of a church in the area said damage would force Sunday's service to move outside. The reports do not make clear whether that is the same church.
Plaka is one of Athens' oldest neighborhoods and a major draw for tourists. The Acropolis above it, Greece's most visited ancient monument, received 4.6 million visitors last year, CBS reported.
The building that collapsed housed both visitors and residents: a family on vacation in the first-floor rental and an elderly couple who made their home upstairs.
Four questions still unanswered
Beyond the death toll and the mayor's early assessment, officials have not publicly announced a cause, named the gas supplier or released the victims' identities. Four central questions remain open:
- What exactly caused the explosion? The mayor said a major gas leak was believed to be responsible, but officials have not formally confirmed a leak or said where any gas came from, whether a supply line, a meter or an appliance inside the building.
- Who supplied and inspected the building's gas system? The utility serving the building, and who was responsible for checking its gas lines and appliances, have not been publicly identified.
- What happened to the residents' warning? No response from the city or the utility companies to the residents' association letter sent a year ago has been reported.
- Did anyone report a gas smell before the blast? A citizens' group says a resident alerted authorities, but that account is unverified, and officials have not addressed it publicly.
What happens next
Formal identification of the six victims is continuing, according to Euronews, and the Arson Crimes Division investigation into the cause is ongoing.
The most immediate decision facing the neighborhood concerns the two damaged buildings Doukas described as dangerous. Inspectors are assessing whether they can stay standing or whether they will have to be demolished.