Six missing, including four tourists, after Athens blast as rescuers search through the night

Friday’s explosion in Athens’ historic Plaka district collapsed a two-storey building just below the Acropolis, injuring three people — two women rescued from an adjacent building and a passer-by hit by debris — and damaging homes, shops and cars nearby. A huge gas leak is the suspected cause.

Six people, including four tourists, remained missing on Saturday as rescuers searched the rubble through the night, police said, revising the missing count up from five in the evening. Mayor Haris Doukas called the blast an “unbelievable disaster” and said there was a strong possibility of “an explosion triggered by … a very significant gas leak”.

According to public broadcaster ERT, the missing include a Briton and a Greek woman who lived on the second floor, with four American tourists in short-term rental accommodation on the first floor. The fire service had earlier reported two elderly people on the top floor and three tourists in the apartment below.

“Operations are continuing, all the machinery is here, the search will go on throughout the night,” Doukas said at the scene. “These are difficult hours. We stop whenever necessary to keep silent, so we can see if we can hear any sound” from possible survivors.

Thirty firefighters with six vehicles and three dogs are working the site, Greece’s ANA news agency reported, with excavators clearing rubble and thermal cameras deployed. Doukas said damage “extends along the entire street as well as the street behind”, and that two adjoining buildings are in very poor condition, with inspections under way to decide whether they must be demolished. Ground-floor owner Mathaios Artavanis told Kathimerini he had been unable to contact “the elderly couple, around 70 years old” since the morning.

Sources

• AFP via SCMP: 6 missing after explosion fells building in heart of touristic Athens — https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3368808/3-injured-after-explosion-causes-building-collapse-athens-tourist-centre?utm_source=rss_feed
• AFP via Malay Mail: Athens building blast leaves six missing as rescuers search rubble, gas leak suspected — https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2026/09/26/athens-building-blast-leaves-six-missing-as-rescuers-search-rubble-gas-leak-suspected/236537
• AFP via Deutsche Tageszeitung: Six missing after building collapses in historic Athens district — https://www.deutschetageszeitung.de/en/Boulevard/895648-six-missing-after-building-collapses-in-historic-athens-district.html