Athens apartment collapse kills six after morning explosion

Mayor calls Plaka blast ‘unprecedented disaster’ as probe continues

The fire service said the bodies of three women and three men were recovered on Saturday, more than 24 hours after the explosion. Charlaftis said the bodies had been transferred to the morgue for postmortems. “Our focus now is on the explosion’s cause,” the vice-mayor said. “What could have happened to bring the building down in a matter of seconds?”

A source familiar with the search said the four Americans killed were two brothers and their wives who had been due to fly to the United States on Friday, just hours after the explosion. The group had been staying in a short-term rental on the building’s first floor and had checked into their flight only the day before. “When they failed to turn up for the flight they had checked into only a day earlier, that gave us a further lead,” the source said. “It became clearer that they must have been there when the blast occurred.”

A British man and his Greek wife, aged 77 and 78, who lived in a flat on the building’s upper floor, were also among the dead. The British man was described as a talented artist who was partially disabled, Charlaftis said. “He had kinetic issues, and it was thought likely they, too, were in the building [at the time of the blast],” the vice-mayor said.

Rescuers worked through the night at 15 Lysikratous using thermal cameras and geophones — instruments used to detect deep subsonic frequencies — along with earth-moving machines and specially trained search dogs to comb mounds of rubble. At least three people were injured when the explosion shattered the windows of nearby buildings and scattered debris. A motorist driving down Lysikratous described how his car was lifted into the air by the force of the blast, which some in the neighborhood likened to an earthquake and others to a bomb. Emergency workers removed two women on stretchers from a neighboring building after they were wounded by flying debris.

Athens Mayor Haris Doukas rushed to the scene and called the incident an “unprecedented disaster.” Officials cautioned that the cause remained under investigation and that there were many “cogent theories” at play, but speculation mounted that a gas leak triggered the collapse. Fears of a leak emanating from the first-floor short-term rental were among them. Civil protection crews and emergency disaster management teams have been ordered to remain on site until the cause of the explosion is determined.

The disaster has intensified debate over short-term rental oversight in Plaka, a picturesque neighborhood nestled around the foot of the fifth-century BC Acropolis that draws thousands of visitors daily. As part of efforts to address a housing crisis, Greece’s centre-right government has previously sought to ban short-term rentals in the district, clamping down on permits and tightening regulations. On Saturday, as speculation mounted over the blast’s cause, criticism grew over the ability to “properly control” establishments that were often unregulated.

“This awful incident will fuel further debate over who inspects short-term rentals that no one who lives in Plaka wants anyway,” said Giorgos Zafeiriou, an architect who heads the local residents’ committee. “Hotels have chambers that regulate them but who inspects and controls Airbnb and serviced apartments that often may not be up to par?”

“It was a huge explosion, so getting to the bottom of it must now be the priority,” Zafeiriou added. “Six people have lost their lives.”