Tragedy in Plaka: Explosion believed to have originated on the second floor — gas leak among leading scenarios

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The process of identifying the six victims recovered from the rubble of the building on Lysikratous Street in Plaka is underway. At the same time, investigators continue to examine the cause of Friday morning’s blast. A 10-officer team from the Fire Service’s Arson Crimes Division is surveying the site, collecting physical evidence, and assessing what may explain how the old two-storey building collapsed.

Families have been asked to provide genetic material for DNA comparison, a process carried out with the Hellenic Police Criminal Investigations Directorate.

The victims

Four of the dead were American citizens staying in a short-term rental apartment on the first floor. Two were siblings of Albanian origin who had travelled with their partners. One of the victims was pregnant. Reports have named them as Florin Hoxha and his wife Eris (or Erisa) Cani, and Florida Hoxha and her husband Ian Alexander Kirkpatrick. The recently married couple were on their honeymoon; the group was due to fly home later the same day.

The other two victims were an elderly couple who lived on the second floor: a Greek woman and a British man. They have been identified in reporting as Athena Papaprescou and Edmond (Eddie) Hings, who had been married for about 30 years.

Investigators focus on the second floor and gas

Early indications point to the explosion having occurred on the second floor, in the apartment occupied by the elderly couple. That unit is described as the only one still connected to a natural-gas supply, used for the kitchen, a fireplace and a burner. The first floor had a gas connection until 2021; it was removed at the owner’s request.

Officials note that the shock-wave damage is concentrated at second-floor height. Natural gas tends to collect higher in a space, unlike LPG, which pools lower. Investigators stress that these observations must still be confirmed by forensic examination before a leak can be established as the cause. Propane equipment in the couple’s apartment is also being examined.

Specialists will conduct a detailed on-site examination and submit findings. Athens Mayor Haris Doukas has referred to this process in public remarks. Officers from the Arson Crimes Division aim to finish collecting pipes, meters and other fittings by Monday.

The preliminary investigation is being conducted under the direction of the Athens First Instance Prosecutor’s Office, in cooperation with other Hellenic Police services.

Structural checks on neighbouring buildings

On Monday, urban-planning officials are expected to carry out the first inspection of neighbouring buildings. Drone footage shows they suffered extensive damage. Some structures appear to be in a precarious state of balance and will require engineer assessment.

Lekkas: “Exemplary” rescue under extreme conditions

Efthymis Lekkas, president of the Earthquake Planning and Protection Organisation and professor of disaster management at the University of Athens, described the operation to recover people from the collapsed building as “exemplary.”

He praised the professionalism of EMAK and firefighters working under extremely adverse conditions, with two adjacent buildings at risk of further collapse.

The destroyed building itself, he said, was an old masonry structure of high vulnerability, built of brick without a continuous load-bearing frame. “It was a monument, not a modern building,” Lekkas noted. The image, he added, brought to mind the Beirut explosion and the way weaker masonry and infill failed.

Neighbouring buildings, he said, appear to sit in a “marginal equilibrium” and need proper engineering checks; they may be tolerable under ordinary conditions but their performance in a major earthquake or blast is unknown.

The cause of the explosion has not been officially confirmed. All scenarios remain under investigation.

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