Six missing after Plaka explosion as Athens mayor calls destruction “unprecedented”

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ATHENS — Search and rescue crews worked through Friday night after a powerful explosion collapsed an old building in Plaka, leaving six people unaccounted for. Athens Mayor Haris Doukas, who spent much of the day at the scene, described the blast as exceptionally strong and said the search would continue overnight.

The explosion struck around 7:35 a.m. on Lysikratous Street, near Vassilissis Amalias Avenue and opposite the Temple of Olympian Zeus. The two-storey building largely collapsed. Neighbouring properties and parked cars were also damaged.

Firefighters and municipal crews work behind police tape on Lysikratous Street.

Mayor’s account

Doukas visited the site repeatedly and spoke both in the afternoon and again after 8pm. He said six people were missing and that there was still no new information on their fate. Among them, he confirmed, was an elderly couple who lived on the second floor. Four people staying in a short-term rental on the first floor were also unaccounted for.

“These are difficult hours,” he said. “We stop whenever complete silence is needed so we can hear if there is any sound, which would mean something positive might still be possible. These are hours of anxiety.” He added that all available machinery was on site and that the effort would last all night. Civil Protection Minister Evangelos Tournas also attended. The Fire Service and EMAK are leading the search; the municipality is supporting with crews, equipment and municipal police who sealed off the area from the first moments.

Doukas compared the street to a “bombed landscape” and called the scale of destruction unprecedented. “The explosion is terrifying. It is unprecedented. Speaking with the people here, this was an extraordinarily powerful blast,” he said. Two adjoining buildings were in very poor condition and were being assessed to see whether they could remain standing or would have to come down. Several buildings across the street were also badly damaged and nearby residents had left the area. City engineers were checking the load-bearing capacity of neighbouring structures. Drones were used to survey the site from above.

Asked about the cause, the mayor said he understood it to have been a gas explosion linked to a major leak, though he stressed there was no official finding yet. “I understand it was from the gas and the intensity was terrifying, which means there was a very serious fault. Something went completely wrong,” he said. Initial evidence existed, he added, but “the main battle right now is locating” the missing. Coordination of the search remained with the Fire Service.

Rescue crews pick through rubble and crushed vehicles at the collapsed building.

The missing and the injured

The second-floor residents were an elderly couple; relatives and neighbours said the husband had serious health problems and limited mobility. The first-floor apartment was a short-term rental. Reports said four visitors — in some accounts a British booker travelling with family — had been due to fly out of Athens on Friday afternoon and did not board. A woman’s handbag containing personal items, and later reports of passports, were found in the wreckage.

Two women were freed from an adjacent building and taken to Gennimatas Hospital with minor injuries. A passer-by was hurt by debris. No confirmed deaths had been announced by Friday night.

EMAK teams, firefighters, thermal cameras, a search dog and excavators remained at the site into Saturday morning. Work was paused at intervals for listening checks. Plaka, a dense historic quarter at the foot of the Acropolis, was still in peak tourist season when the blast occurred.

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