Overview
- A powerful blast on Friday morning struck a two-storey building on Lysikratous Street in the Plaka district, causing a partial collapse and scattering debris across nearby homes, shops and parked cars.
- Firefighters, the Special Disaster Response Unit, sniffer dogs, drones and municipal crews have mounted an ongoing search-and-rescue operation that officials say is still looking for several people reported missing.
- Authorities have treated two to three people for injuries at hospitals and report up to five people unaccounted for, including an elderly couple who lived on the building’s upper floor and guests in a short-term rental.
- The Greek Fire Service has opened a formal probe into the blast, and local officials and media cite a suspected natural-gas leak as the leading hypothesis while investigators continue on-site inspections and utility checks.
- Plaka’s narrow, tourist-heavy streets and the building’s mixed use as housing and a short-term rental have magnified both the human impact and the risk that nearby historic structures and businesses could face longer-term damage or displacement.