Powerful Explosion Collapses Building Near Athens Acropolis, Injuring at Least Two

A powerful explosion shook the Plaka district of Athens on Friday morning, collapsing an old two-story building at the foot of the Acropolis and damaging several structures nearby.

The fire department said the blast originated inside an old building in Plaka, the historic neighborhood that sits directly beneath the Acropolis hill and draws heavy foot traffic from visitors throughout the day. Rescue crews pulled two women from a building next to the one that came down. A passer-by was also hurt, and at least two people were injured in total.

Q: What caused the explosion near the Acropolis in Athens?
A: A powerful blast shook the Plaka district Friday morning, collapsing an old two-story building. The cause is under investigation. Firefighters rescued two women from an adjacent building, and a passer-by was also slightly injured. Police cordoned off the area while checking for anyone else trapped.

Video from the scene showed rubble spread across the narrow street and parked cars crushed under debris. Police cordoned off the area shortly after the explosion, and rescue teams spent the morning checking the wreckage and nearby buildings for anyone else who might have been trapped.

The cause of the explosion has not been determined. An investigation is underway, and officials have not said whether the collapsed building was occupied at the time of the blast or what triggered it.

The explosion happened in the morning, before Plaka’s lanes reach the density of foot traffic they typically see later in the day. The district’s narrow streets, lined with cafes and shops, fill with visitors moving between the Acropolis and the market areas nearby. Had the blast occurred a few hours later, when those streets are at their busiest, the number of people hurt could have been far higher.

Authorities have not released the identities of those injured or given an update on their conditions. Officials have not indicated when they expect to determine what caused the building to collapse.

For travelers with trips to Greece already planned, Friday’s explosion draws attention to building safety standards in historic districts and to how emergency crews respond when incidents happen in the tightly packed streets that define neighborhoods like Plaka.

Source: NBC News/AP