Six Missing After Suspected Gas Blast Collapses Building in Athens’ Plaka Below Acropolis
Published
A powerful explosion at about 7:30 a.m. on September 25 brought down a three-storey building at 15 Lysikratous Street in Athens' Plaka district, below the Acropolis. Athens Mayor Haris Doukas said six people were missing: an elderly couple living on the second floor and four tourists, reported to be Americans, staying in a first-floor short-term rental. Doukas said an extensive leak was the probable cause and that the search would continue through the night; rescuers had found a tourist's handbag but no sign of life. Two women were freed from an adjacent building and taken to hospital, and a passer-by was lightly injured.