Two people are dead and four others remain missing after an explosion brought down a residential building in Plaka, a heavily visited district in central Athens.
The blast yesterday reduced the two-storey property to rubble near landmarks including the Acropolis and the Temple of Zeus.
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Three people suffered injuries, while the force of the explosion damaged neighboring homes, shops and vehicles. Debris and shattered glass were scattered as far as three blocks from the site.
Rescue teams wearing heavy protective gear and red helmets, along with sniffer dogs, searched for an elderly couple who lived in one apartment and four tourists staying in another.
Clothes and household belongings lay scattered across the wreckage.
“It (the rescue operation) is not easy as the biggest part of the building has collapsed and there is risk for adjacent buildings which have been evacuated for security reasons,” police spokeswoman Constantina Dimoglidou told public broadcaster ERT.
The four tourists, two American couples, had been due to check out and travel to Athens airport yesterday, according to a police source.
Authorities had not immediately established what triggered the explosion in the neighborhood, which is crowded with hotels and short-term rental properties.
Athens mayor Haris Doukas said the blast was likely connected to gas infrastructure. “Something went terribly wrong.”
