ATHENS, Sept 26 (Reuters) – A woman has died and five people are missing after a residential building collapsed following an explosion in a tourist area of central Athens, a Greek fire brigade official said on Saturday.
The blast on Friday destroyed a two-storey building in Plaka, near some of Athens’ most visited sites including the Acropolis and the Temple of Zeus, injuring three people and damaging houses, shops and cars.
Emergency crews assisted by rescue dogs were looking for an elderly couple who lived in one apartment and four tourists who were staying in another. They found the body of a young woman early on Saturday as they removed rubble from the building which was reduced to a mess of twisted metal, broken balconies and hanging concrete slabs, the fire brigade official said.
The tourists – whose nationalities are not confirmed – were expected to check out to catch a flight from Athens airport at 3 p.m. on Friday but they didn’t show up, a police official said.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blast in an area which is home to many hotels and short-term rentals. Athens mayor Haris Doukas said on Friday it was likely linked to gas infrastructure. “Something went terribly wrong.”
(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
