The building that collapsed in last Friday's deadly explosion in Athens' Plaka district received its construction permit in 1979, meaning it does not qualify as a protected neoclassical structure, and records show no subsequent modifications were ever filed for the property — including no documentation for the natural gas installation later found in the building, broadcaster Alpha reported.
Even renovation records for the first-floor apartment — the Airbnb rental where four American tourists died — contain no filings covering the installation of gas service, according to the report.
Athens Deputy Mayor Andreas Grammatikogiannis, a civil engineer, confirmed the gap.
"The permit was found, and it's from 1979, but nothing has turned up regarding subsequent phases when work may have been carried out on the building. I wouldn't have imagined a building could collapse so easily from a gas explosion," he told Alpha.
Civil engineer and forensic expert Mr. Avramidis went further, saying the documented permit appears inconsistent with the building's actual condition.
"Based on the evidence so far, it seems the construction permit we have doesn't match reality," he said, noting such discrepancies are typically caught at the licensing stage — and that obtaining an Airbnb short-term rental license should require the building's structural vulnerability to first be formally assessed.
The disclosure comes as investigators continue probing the blast, with earlier reports revealing that the 77-year-old woman killed in the explosion had sought a technician to inspect the building's gas installation roughly a month before the disaster.