{"id":113741,"date":"2026-09-25T17:01:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T17:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/5-missing-after-explosion-collapses-building-in-historic-heart-of-athens-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T17:01:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T17:01:23","slug":"5-missing-after-explosion-collapses-building-in-historic-heart-of-athens-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/5-missing-after-explosion-collapses-building-in-historic-heart-of-athens-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"5 missing after explosion collapses building in historic heart of Athens | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

An elderly couple lived on the second floor, while three tourists, possibly Americans, stayed downstairs<\/p>\n

A woman and a police officer help a woman from a nearby building, after an old building partially collapsed following an explosion, in the Plaka area, which is popular with tourists, in central Athens, Greece, September 25, 2026. REUTERS <\/p>\n

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Five people are missing after an explosion caused a building to collapse in Athens\u2019 historic Plaka district on Friday morning, Greece\u2019s Fire Department said, according to the Greek state news agency AMNA, as search operations continued at the scene.<\/p>\n

The explosion and subsequent fire broke out on Lysikratous Street shortly after 7.30 am local time (0430GMT).<\/p>\n

A large number of firefighters, including personnel from the Special Disaster Response Unit, were searching the rubble using specialized equipment, thermal imaging cameras and a trained search dog.<\/p>\n

The five missing people are believed to have been staying on the first and second floors of the building, according to the Fire Department.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Members of emergency personnel work at the site where an old building collapsed following an explosion, in the Plaka area, which is popular with tourists, in central Athens, Greece, September 25, 2026. REUTERS<\/em><\/p>\n

Read More:<\/strong> Fatal crash takes suspicious turn<\/a><\/p>\n

An elderly couple was believed to have been living on the second floor, while three tourists, possibly Americans, were staying in short-term rental accommodation on the first floor, according to the latest information from the department.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately known whether they were inside the building when the explosion occurred. \u201cThere are missing persons. This is a very complex situation, and the search is in full progress,\u201d Athens Mayor Haris Doukas said after arriving at the scene.<\/p>\n

Drones were also being used to assess the situation, while municipal services remained at the scene to assess damage to neighboring buildings, Doukas said.<\/p>\n

Asked about the cause of the explosion, Doukas explained: \u201cI understand that it was caused by gas, and the force of the explosion was terrifying. This means that there was a very serious fault. Something went completely wrong,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Police officers and ambulances from Greece\u2019s National Centre for Emergency Care were also at the scene.<\/p>\n

Construction machinery provided by the Municipality of Athens was being used to remove debris from the collapsed building.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An elderly couple lived on the second floor, while three tourists, possibly Americans, stayed downstairs A woman and a police officer help a woman from a nearby building, after an old building partially collapsed following an explosion, in the Plaka area, which is popular with tourists, in central Athens, Greece, September 25, 2026. REUTERS Five […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/athens-r1790351965-0\/athens-r1790351965-0-640x480.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t