All Six Bodies Pulled From Rubble in Athens Tragedy

Greek rescuers have recovered the bodies of all six people missing in a suspected gas explosion that flattened a building in Athens, including a British pensioner feared killed in his sleep.

The final two bodies were pulled from the wreckage shortly before 2pm Saturday,

Among the dead: a 77-year-old Briton, who lived on the building's second floor with his wife, a 78-year-old Albanian-born woman raised in Athens. Neighbours had spotted the couple on their balcony minutes before the explosion. Desperate calls to reach them afterwards went unanswered.

As the agonising wait dragged on, relatives in the United States turned to social media pleading for help tracing two of the American victims

"The building that collapsed in Plaka about 13 hours ago is believed to have been housing my cousins Ian and Florida.They are on their honeymoon," one relative wrote.

"They have not been in touch with family. If anyone knows anything we can do, please give me advice. If anyone has access to police or rescue teams in that area that I can either give information to, or get in contact with, that would be a great help."

Live television footage showed a convoy of yellow ambulances crammed into the narrow street outside the demolished building, engines idling as crews waited. One by one, rescue workers emerged from the ruins carrying stretchers, each body wrapped in a silver thermal shroud, as stunned residents and tourists watched in silence behind police tape.

The dead include four American — two couples in their 30s and 40s who had booked a flat as a short-let. The booking was made under the name of a 37-year-old man, Mr Ian. All four had flights booked back to the US which they never made.

One woman from the group was the first victim pulled from the rubble, found in the bathroom of the wreckage in the early hours of Saturday and declared dead soon after arriving at Athens' state-run Elpis Hospital.

Hours earlier and as heavy machinery moved in to clear the debris, Athens deputy mayor Panagiotis Harlaftis had warned hope was all but gone.

"We have released the sniffer dog and completed attempts to find survivors," he said grimly, as crews pushed deeper into the building's "inner sanctums, mainly the bedrooms."

"The explosion may have caught them in their sleep."

Fire officials believe a gas leak in the second-floor supply line triggered the blast.

Around 30 firefighters and six vehicles, including specialist units from Greece's EMAK disaster squad, battled unstable ground throughout the operation, at times lifting rubble slab by slab for fear of a second collapse.

Shortly after the explosion, firefighters had pulled two women to safety from a neighbouring building on the same street.

Both were rushed to hospital by ambulance.

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Greek rescuers have recovered the bodies of all six people missing in a suspected gas explosion that flattened a building in Athens, including a British pensioner feared killed in his sleep.

The final two bodies were pulled from the wreckage shortly before 2pm Saturday, some 28 hours after the blast tore through the two-storey building in a narrow street in the capital's busiest tourist pocket, at daybreak Friday.

Among the dead: a 77-year-old Briton, who lived on the building's second floor with his wife, a 78-year-old Albanian-born woman raised in Athens. Neighbours had spotted the couple on their balcony minutes before the explosion. Desperate calls to reach them afterwards went unanswered.

As the agonising wait dragged on, relatives in the United States turned to social media pleading for help tracing two of the American victims

"The building that collapsed in Plaka about 13 hours ago is believed to have been housing my cousins Ian and Florida.They are on their honeymoon," one relative wrote.

"They have not been in touch with family. If anyone knows anything we can do, please give me advice. If anyone has access to police or rescue teams in that area that I can either give information to, or get in contact with, that would be a great help."

Live television footage showed a convoy of yellow ambulances crammed into the narrow street outside the demolished building, engines idling as crews waited. One by one, rescue workers emerged from the ruins carrying stretchers, each body wrapped in a silver thermal shroud, as stunned residents and tourists watched in silence behind police tape.

The dead include four American — two couples in their 30s and 40s who had booked a flat as a short-let. The booking was made under the name of a 37-year-old man, Mr Ian. All four had flights booked back to the US which they never made.

One woman from the group was the first victim pulled from the rubble, found in the bathroom of the wreckage in the early hours of Saturday and declared dead soon after arriving at Athens' state-run Elpis Hospital.

Hours earlier and as heavy machinery moved in to clear the debris, Athens deputy mayor Panagiotis Harlaftis had warned hope was all but gone.

"We have released the sniffer dog and completed attempts to find survivors," he said grimly, as crews pushed deeper into the building's "inner sanctums, mainly the bedrooms."

"The explosion may have caught them in their sleep."

Fire officials believe a gas leak in the second-floor supply line triggered the blast.

Around 30 firefighters and six vehicles, including specialist units from Greece's EMAK disaster squad, battled unstable ground throughout the operation, at times lifting rubble slab by slab for fear of a second collapse.

Shortly after the explosion, firefighters had pulled two women to safety from a neighbouring building on the same street.

Both were rushed to hospital by ambulance.

Διαβάστε περισσότερα στο iefimerida.gr