By: Julie Li
On the morning of Friday, September 25th, 2026, a powerful explosion caused a two story residential building to collapse. As a result, six ended up dead with at least two others injured. Among the six dead, four of them were American tourists, and two of them were a newlywed couple.
Athens mayor Haris Doukas said the blast was believed to have been caused by a major gas leak. He also added that neighboring buildings were also damaged and evacuated. The building was on Lysikratous Street, near the acropolis, Greece’s most visited monument, making it a very tourist-heavy neighborhood.
According to AP News, two women were injured in an adjacent building and the fire department said the search-and-rescue mission involved 30 firefighters and three dogs, and an investigation into the cause of the explosion.
On Saturday, September 26, authorities said that the collapse in Athens historic district, Plaka, had recovered six bodies. According to officials from both countries, documents and belongings found indicated that four from America, two were a newlywed couple, the brother of the bride, and his wife, and the two non-Americans who were the building owners.
The non-American victims were an elderly couple, Athena Papaprescou who was 78 and Greek and her husband Edmond Hings who was 77 and British. They both lived in the building and were building/structure owners.
The four Americans were Ian Alexander Kirkpatrick, 37 and his wife, Florida Hoxha, 34. As mentioned earlier, they were newlyweds planning to end their honeymoon in Athens. Also among the four was Hoxha’s older brother, Florin Hoxhas, 36 and his wife, Eris Cani. Cani, an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at the Touro College of Pharmacy in Manhattan, was five-and-a-half-months pregnant.
Kirkpatrick and Hoxha married in August and had spent a week in Mexico before meeting up with her brother and sister-in-law in Athens and had been there for nine days, according to ABC News. Both couples had been staying at the 3-story airbnb rental near the ancient Acropolis. The new husband and wife were hours away from leaving and had already checked in for their Delta flight.
Kirkpatrick spent his childhood in Huntington, Long Island, while the Hoxha family originally came from the Bronx. Florida Hoxha, a senior attorney with the New York Legal Assistance Group, worked to protect immigrants facing possible eviction and participated in local politics in Westchester County. Kirkpatrick previously worked for a startup in China before joining Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group as a regulatory and compliance officer. He also spoke Chinese, and his mother described him to *Newsday* as someone who embraced life enthusiastically. She compared her new daughter-in-law to the sun.
In Westchester County, Hoxha was remembered for her commitment to public service and willingness to help others. At Monday’s meeting of the Westchester County Board of Legislators, chairman Vedat Gashi praised her as a dedicated member of the community before the board observed a moment of silence in her honor.
“She was committed to helping through her work,” Gashi said, according to Newsday. “It’s a tragic loss.”