As the hours pass, anxiety mounts in Plaka, Athens, with rescue efforts now focused entirely on locating six people who went missing after a powerful explosion nearly leveled a two-story residential building on Lysikratous Street. Firefighters and EMAK urban search-and-rescue teams are working through the rubble, carefully removing sections of the collapsed structure and searching for any sign of life. Thermal imaging cameras are being deployed in the operation, and a specially trained search dog is also taking part in the search.
Plaka explosion: Six people may have been inside the building
Information gathered by authorities so far points to six individuals who may have been inside the building at the time of the explosion. The first floor housed a short-term rental apartment, where two young tourist couples who had traveled to Greece on holiday are believed to have been staying. So far, none of them have been located.
Fears grow for elderly couple
According to information available so far, the second floor of the building was home to an elderly couple — a 77-year-old woman and a 78-year-old man. Repeated attempts to reach them by phone have been made since the early hours following the explosion, all without success.
The owner of the ground-floor unit also expressed his deep concern for their fate, stating that he had tried to call them as early as the morning. As he explained, the landline was not working and the mobile phone was switched off. He also noted that the 78-year-old man had mobility issues.
Thorough investigation into the cause of the explosion
Running parallel to the search-and-rescue operation, an investigation into the cause of the massive explosion is currently underway. A team from the Arson Investigation Directorate has arrived at the scene, led by its commander Dimitris Dimakogiannis, and a gas leak is among the possibilities being examined. As of now, no official determination has been made as to what triggered the blast. The shockwave was powerful enough to cause damage not only to the building where the explosion occurred, but also to neighboring structures and parked vehicles in the area.
“An extremely complex situation”
Athens Mayor Haris Doukas also made his way to Lysikratous Street, confirming that there are missing persons and stressing the difficulty of the operation. “There are missing people — this is an extremely complex situation, and the search is in full swing,” he stated, noting that the forces on the ground are also deploying trained search dogs.
The City of Athens has deployed heavy machinery to assist with debris removal, while drones are being used to capture aerial footage of the devastated building. Structural inspections of neighboring buildings are also expected to be carried out to determine whether they have sustained damage affecting their stability. Shortly before 8:00 p.m., the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Evangelos Tournas, arrived at the scene.
The explosion that shook Plaka
It all began shortly after 7:30 a.m., when a powerful explosion rocked the neighborhood. A fire broke out and part of the building collapsed, with the blast heard from a considerable distance away.
Two women were rescued from an adjacent building and transported by ambulance to Genimatas General Hospital, while one other person sustained minor injuries from debris. Attention has now turned fully to the rubble of the collapsed structure and the six people still being searched for, as firefighting and rescue teams continue their operation with every passing hour.
