Among the dead were four U.S. citizens who had been staying in a short-term rental inside the building. The other two victims were an elderly British man and his Greek wife who lived upstairs.
The American travelers had reportedly been preparing to leave Greece on the same day disaster struck.
According to Greek reporting, they were scheduled to check out Friday and travel to Athens International Airport for an afternoon flight. When they failed to appear, concerns grew that they were among those trapped beneath the rubble.
Investigators later recovered personal belongings, passports and rental documents from the ruins.
Reports have described the American group as two couples, although some Greek media reports identified them as a couple traveling with their son and his girlfriend. Authorities had not immediately released the victims’ identities publicly.
The explosion unfolded in an area normally packed with visitors.
Plaka is one of Athens’ best-known neighborhoods, filled with restaurants, shops, hotels and vacation rentals. It sits near some of Greece’s most famous landmarks, including the Acropolis and the Temple of Olympian Zeus.
Instead of tourists filling the streets Friday morning, emergency personnel descended on the neighborhood as rubble and shattered glass covered the surrounding area.
The explosion was powerful enough to damage nearby buildings, businesses and vehicles. Authorities also began examining neighboring structures to determine whether they remained safe or would have to be demolished.
Three other people were reported injured.
Two women were rescued from an adjacent building and transported to a hospital, while another person suffered minor injuries from debris generated by the blast.
Approximately 30 firefighters, specialized rescue personnel and search dogs participated in the painstaking operation. Crews used equipment including thermal cameras as they worked through the unstable wreckage looking for survivors.
By Saturday afternoon, however, the rescue mission had reached its grim conclusion.
All six missing people had been found dead.
Attention has now shifted to what caused such a destructive explosion in the middle of Athens.
A gas leak is among the leading possibilities being examined by investigators. Athens Mayor Haris Doukas said the explosion was likely connected to gas infrastructure, although authorities have not yet announced a definitive cause.
Some witnesses also reported smelling gas around the time of the explosion.
The scale of the destruction stunned local officials.
“The damage extends to the entire street as well as the street behind [the building]. We are talking about an unimaginable catastrophe,” Doukas said.
The tragedy has also drawn a response from the U.S. diplomatic mission in Greece.
U.S. Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle confirmed that American citizens were among those killed and said the embassy was assisting their loved ones.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives and were injured in this horrific incident. Our hearts are with them during this difficult time,” Guilfoyle said.
The disaster has left one of Athens’ most recognizable tourist neighborhoods scarred by shattered windows, damaged buildings and piles of debris just steps from monuments visited by millions of people.
For the four American travelers, the timing was especially heartbreaking.
They were reportedly supposed to leave Athens only hours after the explosion occurred. Instead, what should have been the final morning of their trip became the scene of a deadly catastrophe.
Greek authorities are continuing to investigate the blast while engineers assess the safety of surrounding properties.
For now, officials are treating a gas-related explosion as a major possibility — but exactly what went wrong inside the building remains under investigation.
