Four American tourists visiting Greece were among six people confirmed dead Saturday after a blast brought down the small Athens residential building they had been staying in near the Acropolis, officials said.

The explosion, which occurred at dawn on Friday in the popular Plaka district filled with tourist lodgings, was likely caused by a gas leak, according to the capital’s mayor, Haris Doukas.

The other two people killed were an elderly British man and his Greek wife who lived on the second storey of the three-storey building, Greece’s state broadcaster ERT reported.

The American family of four had been renting an apartment on the first storey and were preparing to go to the airport hours later on Friday for their return to the United States when the blast occurred, according to the Kathimerini newspaper.

The explosion brought down the residential building and damaged properties and vehicles along the street.

The New York Times reported that the US family was composed of a couple, their son and his girlfriend.

Greek authorities did not immediately give their identities, ages or where in the United States they came from.

– ‘Incredible disaster’ –

On Saturday, AFP reporters saw mechanical diggers moving debris at the site and thermal-imaging cameras deployed.

“We are talking about an incredible disaster,” Mayor Doukas said.

Two nearby buildings were left in a dangerous state, he added, with inspections under way “to determine if they can remain standing or if they also have to be demolished”.

The owner of the ground-floor apartment, Mathaios Artavanis, told the Kathimerini daily he was absent at the time of the blast. He said he had tried afterwards to contact the UK-Greek couple who lived there, without success.

A year ago, locals in the Plaka neighbourhood had warned the city and utility companies about the risk of gas leaks or short circuits, according to a letter by the residents’ association published by Kathimerini.

The residents had urged a fire drill to identify possible weaknesses in the emergency response plans for the district.

A citizens’ group said on social media that one resident in the street where the explosion happened had alerted authorities after smelling a possible gas leak.

The neighbourhood is one of Athens’s most popular tourist areas. The nearby Acropolis, one of Greece’s best-known landmarks, welcomed 4.6 million visitors last year.

AFP