Plaka tragedy: cause was a defect in the building’s internal gas network — the four Americans were a family

The four American tourists who died Friday morning in the two-story building on Lysikratous Street in Plaka were a family: an elderly couple, their son and his girlfriend, Greek police told the New York Times. Their names have not yet been made public. They were staying in a ground-floor apartment, which is usually rented out short-term to tourists.

The total death toll is six: the four Americans, plus a 78-year-old British man and his 77-year-old Greek wife, who lived on the second floor, according to the BBC. The Americans were expected to check out to catch a 3:00 p.m. flight on Friday, but never showed up, a police source told Reuters. Three people were lightly injured in the blast.

The newest development is a statement by Athens’ deputy mayor for civil protection, Andreas Grammatikogiannis, who told the state news agency AMNA that the explosion appears to have been caused by a failure in the building’s internal natural gas network. «It has nothing to do with the external network. Clearly, we are dealing with a failure in the construction of the building’s internal network,» he said. The statement follows that of deputy mayor Paris Charlaftis, who said that «no lead is excluded» — including the possibility of an explosive device. The investigation continues.

Athens Mayor Haris Doukas called the explosion «an extraordinary catastrophe». The area remains unsafe, and the two neighboring buildings are being assessed by engineers, who will decide whether they will remain standing or be demolished.