Work by natural gas crews continues, as do investigations by the relevant authorities on Lysikratous Street, where a powerful explosion occurred in Plaka, resulting in the collapse of a two-story residential building and injuries to three people.
The explosion was so powerful that the blast was felt throughout much of downtown Athens. Flying debris caused damage to parked vehicles, while the shock wave also caused damage to the facades and storefront windows in the area.
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Rubio’s messages from Athens are significant, says Letympiotis
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Initial findings, however, point to a natural gas leak, though no possibilities have been ruled out at this time. Eyewitnesses from nearby buildings say it felt as if a bomb had gone off or an earthquake had struck.
SEE ALSO: The moment of the explosion in Plaka—terrified guests from a nearby hotel ran for cover (VIDEO)
Seven people were staying in the building
The Airbnb manager, whose unit was located on the first floor of the building where the explosion occurred, told reporters that three Americans were staying there, who had arrived a few days earlier and were scheduled to leave the following week.
“We had registered three people, all named Frederick. Did they get out? Did they not? We don’t know what happened after the explosion. I was there from the very beginning. I live 50 meters away. I was drinking coffee, and as soon as I heard it, I went straight outside,” he said, adding that the Fire Department hasn’t informed them if there are any bodies inside.
READ ALSO: “I saw it collapse right in front of me”: Eyewitness accounts of a strong gas odor before the explosion in a building in Plaka
He noted that the ground floor and second floor housed privately owned apartments, while the Airbnb unit “had neither natural gas nor any gas cylinders, propane, etc., only electricity.” However, he does not know if the rest of the building had a natural gas supply, and he speculates that the explosion may have originated in the rear sections of the building.
As for the building’s tenants, the Airbnb manager said that an elderly couple lived on the second floor and another couple on the ground floor, though he was unable to say whether they were inside at the time of the explosion or if they managed to get out.
“The shock wave shattered windows, sent debris flying, and caused panic among the people.”
An American tourist family from Alaska described to the Orange Press Agency the moments of panic that followed the explosion at 5 Lysikratous Street; who were visiting Greece for the first time and were having breakfast in the dining room of the neighboring hotel at the time.
As Emily and her father describe, the shock wave shattered windows, scattered debris, and caused great commotion and panic among the guests and visitors at the neighboring hotels.
When the explosion occurred, Emily was on the fourth floor of the hotel. “I was on the phone at the time and heard the explosion. The lights went out, someone started screaming, and alarms began to sound.”
She got up and ran to find her parents on the ground floor. She heard “a huge ‘boom,’” and since she had grown up with earthquakes and didn’t know what an explosion sounded like, she thought, “Oh my God, could this be a major earthquake?”
“I felt it; I heard it ‘coming’ from the roof, which is why I thought I should head down to the lower floors. It felt like I was right in the middle of the tremor,” she says.
Her father was in the dining room on the ground floor at that moment with his wife, right next to the window facing the street. The dining room—as she said—opened at 7:30 for breakfast.
“We set the table, and my wife and I placed the plates on our table. I went to take a sip while standing right next to the window. We felt the shockwave from the explosion. All the windows shattered inward, and several people started screaming. There was a lot of dust in the room,” he added.
Gary went on to say that, fortunately, there was no one else in the dining room—just their family and the receptionist: “We ran toward the reception desk and tried to get to the inner courtyard. But there was a lot of debris and alarms were going off, so we decided to get out quickly.”
The noise was incredibly loud, she added. “The window shattered inward, the awning broke, but it didn’t hit me—my guardian angel protected me. I was less than five meters away from the vehicle that was outside.”
Gary immediately highlights the prompt response of the police and emergency responders, noting that they were forced to evacuate without their personal belongings:
“It was dark, the lights went out, there was dust… And when we went outside, the police arrived at the scene very quickly—really—and told us, ‘Go further up the block.’ They cleared everyone from the area because at that moment they didn’t know exactly what had happened or if there was a possibility of a second explosion.”
“We could see black smoke coming from the building next door,” Emily adds. Her father spoke very highly of the hotel and the staff, but, as he said, “Our suitcases, our passports—everything is still in our room. And my hat, as well as my backpack, are still on the chair, still on the table in the dining room.”
“The car was lifted into the air”
At the time of the massive explosion in Plaka, a car was passing by 5 Lysikratous Street outside the building that collapsed, and the driver escaped by a “miracle.” Speaking to the Orange Press Agency, he described the nightmarish moments he experienced when the explosion caught him while he was driving.
“I was in the car at the time I drove by here and the explosion happened. And I didn’t understand anything—what was happening to me. What I did realize was what you see in the car—what had happened—and everything around me blew up. No flash, nothing. Just a loud explosion. A boom. The car was thrown into the air! The car was thrown into the air and then came crashing back down.”
As he explains, the vehicle’s windows shattered immediately, while the power doors jammed, forcing him to climb out through the window: “The windows shattered. I tried to get out of the car. The doors wouldn’t open because the car had stalled, and it’s electric. I climbed out through the car window. Thank God. No one was passing by at that time; the street was empty—a quiet day, as mornings always are.”
Amid the panic and the thick dust that covered the entire street, the driver initially assumed that the explosion might have come from his own vehicle: “I thought the explosion happened inside the car. From what I could tell, I wasn’t sure if it had happened in that building over there. I had to run, to get away. At that moment, I didn’t have the presence of mind to look back to see what was happening, because it was full of dust—like smoke, dust, that is. I couldn’t see anything.”
Source: In.gr
