All six people missing after Friday morning's building explosion in Athens' Plaka neighborhood have been found dead, inc...

All six people missing after Friday morning's building explosion in Athens' Plaka neighborhood have been found dead, including a pregnant woman and a newlywed couple on their honeymoon. The blast on Lysikratous Street killed four Americans and a British couple, Athena, 78, and Edmond, 77, who had lived in the building for years. The four Americans were identified as Ian Kirkpatrick and his partner Florida Hodja, along with her brother Florin Hodja and his partner Erisa Tsani. Ian and Florida were on their honeymoon. Florin and Erisa were expecting their first child. The search operation stretched nearly 20 hours through the night, with rescue crews using seismic listening devices, thermal cameras, and excavators to sift through the rubble piece by piece. The last victims were recovered just before 2 a.m. A gas leak inside the building is the leading theory under investigation. Efthymis Lekkas, head of the Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization, said early indications point to a natural gas leak in the structure, with the building's owner possibly having triggered the explosion by switching on a light. Experts say the gas accumulation was exceptionally large, and structural engineering professor Panagiotis Karydis said the blast originated at the front section of the second floor. Athens City Council Deputy Mayor for Civil Protection Andreas Grammatikogiannis said preliminary findings suggest the incident does not appear to be connected to the external natural gas network. A 10-member team from the fire service's Arson Investigation Directorate is now combing through neighboring buildings, shops, and the rubble site inch by inch to establish the exact sequence of events. Four adjacent buildings sustained serious damage, two of them significantly old. Full structural inspections of those properties are set to begin Monday. The fire service confirmed no gas smell complaints had been reported to them in the area before the explosion, though residents had posted about a gas odor on social media in the preceding days. #Athens #Plaka #Greece