Five people are reportedly missing after an explosion brought down a building on Lysikratous Street in the Plaka district of central Athens on Friday morning.
Authorities are trying to establish who was inside at the time. According to witnesses, a man from the United States had been staying temporarily on the first floor, and an elderly couple lived on the second.
Firefighters are combing the rubble, and members of EMAK, the fire service’s special disaster response unit, are searching with a specially trained dog.
Rescuers freed three women who had been trapped, and they were taken to Gennimatas Hospital. A passer-by was slightly injured by flying debris. Eight parked cars were also damaged.
A resident who was 40 to 50 metres from the blast told Orange Press they heard what sounded like a bomb at about 7.30am. “The shockwave was extremely strong,” the resident said. Picture frames fell off the walls and coffee was knocked over.
The resident said everyone was frightened and at first assumed it was a bomb, or a wall that had come down at a building site. They went up to the roof and saw thick smoke, and later learned it had been an explosion.
Buildings around the neighbourhood were damaged, the resident said. Apart from some picture frames, nothing fragile broke in their own home, though a crack in one corner may have widened slightly.
(information from iefimerida.gr, ertnews.gr/Image source: Eurokinissi/Video source: reader.gr)
