{"id":357585,"date":"2026-09-26T13:52:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T13:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/357585\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T13:52:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T13:52:24","slug":"american-couple-killed-after-building-collapses-in-athens-greece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/357585\/","title":{"rendered":"American couple killed after building collapses in Athens, Greece"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An American couple was killed Friday in a building collapse in Athens, Greece, just hours before they were set to leave the city, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>The pair, who have not yet been publicly identified, were staying in a two-story building that buckled after suffering a suspected gas leak, a Greek fire brigade official said on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Four unconscious people were pulled from the rubble Saturday \u2014 including family members of the killed American couple.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"41001808\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-woman-recovered-rubble-search-142592011.jpg\" alt=\"Firefighters and special disaster response unit members search through the rubble of a collapsed building.\" class=\"wp-image-41001808\"\/>Firefighters and members of the Hellenic Fire Service\u2019s Special Disaster Response Unit (EMAK) search the rubble of a building following an explosion on Lysikratous Street in Athens, Greece. GEORGE VITSARAS\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<p>Three others were injured in the collapse, which also damaged nearby homes and shops and littered the surrounding blocks with rubble and broken glass.<\/p>\n<p>The killed Americans were expected to check out to catch a flight from Athens airport at 3 p.m. \u2060on Friday but didn\u2019t show up, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/one-dead-5-missing-after-explosion-destroys-building-athens-2026-09-26\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">a police source told Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>They were visiting Plaka with two other family members \u2014 the group comprised a couple, their son and his girlfriend, but it\u2019s not clear which couple was killed, Greek police <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/25\/world\/europe\/athens-tourists-explosion.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">told the New York Times.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>They were staying in a street-level apartment rented out to tourists, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/americans-greece-athens-building-explosion-collapse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">CBS reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The historic Plaka district of the city is a popular tourist destination and is near the Acropolis monument and the Temple of Zeus.<\/p>\n<p>The blast was likely linked to gas infrastructure, according to Athens Mayor Haris Doukas.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"41001813\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/firefighters-work-scene-following-fridays-142584304.jpg\" alt=\"Firefighters work at the scene following Friday's powerful blast in Athens' Plaka district.\" class=\"wp-image-41001813\"\/>Firefighters work at the scene following Friday\u2019s powerful blast in Athens\u2019 Plaka district, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. AP Photo\/Yorgos Karahalis<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are talking about an incredible disaster,\u201d he said, adding that damage had occurred along the street the building was in, as well as behind it.<\/p>\n<p>The area remains unsecure, with investigators still working to determine if two nearby buildings would be able to remain standing or if they have to be demolished.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An American couple was killed Friday in a building collapse in Athens, Greece, just hours before they were&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[73330,1015,3137,9,11,10,13942,1076],"class_list":["post-357585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-athens","tag-deaths","tag-greece","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-tourists","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}