A major emergency response is underway after a four-story apartment building with seven apartments collapsed on Alkminis Street in the Petralona neighborhood of central Athens.
Initial reports suggested that four people were missing. However, three of them—construction workers—were later located after relatives reached them by phone. The woman who was reported missing after the collapse has been found safe at a different location, authorities said.
Search and rescue teams are continuing to comb through the rubble to determine whether anyone else may be trapped beneath the collapsed building.
“The search and rescue operation remains fully underway,” the Hellenic Fire Service said in an official announcement.
Greece’s National Center for Emergency Care announced that three ambulances, one mobile intensive care unit, and one rapid response motorcycle have been dispatched to the scene.
Strong Fire Service units and the 1st Special Disaster Response Unit (EMAK) are operating at the scene with two specially trained search-and-rescue dogs. Neighboring EMAK units have also been placed on heightened alert and will be deployed if necessary.
Also present at the scene is Deputy Chief of the Fire Service, Major General Anastasios Pappas who is coordinating the operation.
According to the agency, the on-duty Gennimatas, Sotiria, and Tzaneio hospitals have also been placed on standby to receive any victims from the incident.
Speaking to Greece’s public broadcaster ERT, Athens Deputy Mayor Paris Charlavtis said authorities are also investigating whether construction work being carried out at the site may have contributed to the collapse.
Meanwhile, authorities have taken five people in for questioning.
The owner of the neighboring apartment building—where construction work had been commissioned—and the workers involved in the project are currently giving statements at the local police station as investigators examine the circumstances surrounding the collapse.
Drone footage by Orange Press, shows the extent of the damage.
