The five individuals arrested in connection with the collapse of the apartment building in Petralona appeared before the competent prosecutor today.

The prosecutor then ordered a preliminary investigation to determine whether there had been a violation of the relevant legislation. Subsequently, the five detainees were released pending the completion of the prosecutor’s investigation.

The timeline of a predicted collapse

On-site inspections and structural stability assessments of all adjacent buildings to the apartment complex that collapsed at 22 Alkminis Street, in Petralona, will be carried out again today by special teams of engineers from the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Municipality of Athens.

Since initial inspections revealed some structural stability issues in the four-story apartment building adjacent to the one that collapsed yesterday (a hole at its base), the appointed scientists will determine whether there is a further risk to other buildings due to ground subsidence. The main problem lies in the fact that excavation on the adjacent lot caused the subsoil to subside, and since the subsoil in the area is considered unstable, the displacement of soil and the sudden collapse of the four-story building could affect the foundations of the other buildings as well—especially those that were adjacent to it.

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The team of engineers used specialized equipment to measure whether the building has tilted, a process that will be repeated today to determine whether it will remain evacuated.

Meanwhile, the five individuals who were taken in for questioning regarding the building’s collapse have been arrested. They include the two owners of the property (who are also shareholders in the company that undertook the project and are engineers by profession), the two engineers in charge, and the contractor. According to reports, those arrested so far attribute the collapse to a pipe leak in the preceding days, which eroded the ground where excavation was taking place. However, relatives of the tenants of the collapsed building allege that an engineer from the construction crew tasked with building the five-story luxury residence on the lot tried to dismiss the residents’ concerns by mocking them.

“The Leaning Tower of Pisa is leaning, but it hasn’t fallen.”

The complainants themselves report that since yesterday morning, the residents of the apartment building had been hearing creaking noises, while a neighbor spotted a large crack in the building. Concerned, they called their structural engineer, who determined that the building had tilted by 5 degrees. They contacted the engineer of the newly constructed building, who reportedly replied, “The Leaning Tower of Pisa is also leaning, but it didn’t fall.”

However, the apartment building did not share the “fortune” of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, as within just one hour, the tilt increased from 5 to 14 degrees. By then, of course, the engineer had already taken the initiative to inform the six families living in the apartment building by going door to door. Shortly afterward, the construction workers began ringing doorbells and asking the tenants to evacuate the building under the pretext of “loud noise.”

This detail leads police to suspect that the crew may have realized they had caused some damage to the foundations of the adjacent apartment building and were attempting to “cover it up.” That is why, after all, it appears that quick-setting cement was planned to be poured at the site to serve as a prop for the leaning apartment building. So how and why did the apartment building collapse?

Obviously, the relevant authorities will provide the answers in the case file currently being compiled, but so far, experts are leaning toward the conclusion that it was a combination of events and, above all, negligence. For example, the apartment building that collapsed was built in 1970, had no basement, and its foundations were between 1 and 1.30 m deep. For the new, five-story apartment building with a basement at number 20, the foundations were to be laid at a depth of approximately 6 meters; excavation for this was carried out after the demolition of the warehouse (which had stood there since 1956).

One question is whether there was a warning in the days leading up to the incident from a technical team that was called in to inspect the site and recommended pouring shotcrete to prevent the riskof the adjacent apartment building collapsing—a solution that was ultimately not chosen due to cost considerations.

On the other hand, experts point out that a structurally sound building should not be affected—much less collapse—by construction work on an adjacent lot and that there was a pre-existing structural issue, either due to poor construction in the apartment building or soil subsidence (nor, in any case, is the soil in the area considered rocky and relatively unstable). Despite the fact, they point out, that a special study of the subsoil and shoring works should have been conducted before the project proceeded, the total collapse is not justified, unless there were already serious weaknesses in the building’s framework or some geological peculiarity.

See photos taken after the building’s collapse:

Source: Proto Thema