Six killed in Athens Plaka gas-blast building collapse, victims identified

Six people were killed in a gas explosion that destroyed a two-storey building on Lysikratous Street in Athens’ historic Plaka district on Friday morning, with officials now blaming a failure in the building’s internal natural-gas network.

The dead include four American tourists — an older couple, their son and his girlfriend — who have not yet been publicly identified, Greek officials said on Saturday. An elderly British man and his Greek wife, who lived on the second floor, also died, according to the BBC. Three others were injured in the dawn blast, which also damaged nearby homes and shops.

The American family were due to check out on Friday to catch a 3pm flight from Athens airport but never showed up, a police source told Reuters. Greek police told the New York Times the group comprised an older couple, their son and his girlfriend; officials have not released their names, ages or where in the US they are from. They were staying in a street-level apartment typically rented to tourists, CBS reported.

“[The incident] has nothing to do with the external network. Clearly, we are dealing with a failure in the construction of the building’s internal network,” said Andreas Grammatikogiannis, deputy mayor for civil protection of the Municipality of Athens, speaking to state-run news agency AMNA. The investigation remains ongoing.

Athens Mayor Haris Doukas called it “an incredible disaster”. The area remains insecure, with investigators assessing whether two nearby buildings can remain standing or must be demolished. Plaka, near the Acropolis and the Temple of Zeus, is one of Athens’ most popular tourist districts.

Sources

• NY Post: https://nypost.com/2026/09/26/world-news/american-couple-killed-after-building-collapses-in-athens-greece/
• Reuters (via NY Post); New York Times (via NY Post); CBS (via NY Post); BBC (via NY Post); AP (photograph); AMNA (via NY Post)