Athens Building Collapse: All trapped residents rescued safely, investigation underway

In a tragic incident reported today, four people were trapped after a four-story building with seven apartments ‌collapsed on Tuesday in the Petralona area of Athens.

All trapped residents were safely evacuated after the fire department mounted a search and rescue operation on Tuesday following a building collapse in the Petralona district in central Athens, at 22 Alkminis Street.

Police officials were also deployed to the area to help with the ongoing rescue operation. the service said in a statement.

Three ambulances, as well as mobile emergency responders have rushed to the scene, while hospitals are on standby to receive the injured.

A force of 30 fire fighters with eight fire engines, the 1st EMAK unit and specially-trained search and rescue dogs are also taking part in the operation.

Footage on ‌local media showed rescue workers walking amid the rubble, while no causalities reported so far.

According to officials, it was not clear what actually caused the building collapse while according to the information available so far, the incident occurred during the construction work carried out in an adjacent building.

As part of an ongoing investigation five people including laborers and the site owner have been detained by authorities.