More bodies were pulled from the ruins of a luxury hotel in Cuba's capital Monday, bringing the official death toll of a powerful explosion at the iconic building to 40, APA reports citing U.S News.
Dr. Julio Guerra, chief of hospital services at the Ministry of Health, said at a news conference that more bodies had been recovered in the last few hours. He added that there were still 18 people hospitalized for injuries from Friday's blast at the 19th century Hotel Saratoga.
Search crews with dogs have been hunting through debris in the hotel in Cuba's capital.
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08.05.2022
06.05
At least 32 people have died, and 19 remain missing following Friday's explosion at the Hotel Saratoga in Havana, Red Cross official Gloria Bonnin told Cuba's state-run Prensa Latina News Agency on Saturday, APA reports citing CNN.
The state-run company Gaviota that manages the hotel said 11 workers died in the blast and 13 remain missing. A Cuban-American woman is among the injured, according to Dalila Alba González, a Ministry of Tourism spokesperson.
A gas leak is thought to be the cause of the explosion, according to the Cuban Presidential Office, which said that more details would follow.
"Everything indicates that the explosion was caused by an accident," the Cuban Presidential Office said in a tweet.
According to preliminary data, a child and a pregnant woman were among those who died, it said.
The presidency also said 64 people have been hospitalized for injuries, including 14 minors.
Cuban state TV said there are potential survivors trapped in the basement of the destroyed hotel.
Witnesses described a "massive blast," which appeared to destroy buses and cars outside the hotel in the center of the city.
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21.17
Cuban rescue workers on Saturday picked through rubble for bodies and possible survivors after a Havana boutique hotel was devastated by what authorities said was a gas explosion, leaving at least 26 dead, APA reports citing Reuters.
The blast at the Hotel Saratoga, just a block from the iconic capitol building in a renovated area of downtown Havana, seriously damaged two adjoining upscale apartment buildings and inflicted lighter damage to 17 structures within a two-block radius. Debris fell on pedestrians in the heavily traveled area and glass and debris went flying at a nearby grammar school.
Local authorities said 50 adults and 14 children were injured. Four of the dead were children, they said, providing few details. One of the dead was a Spanish tourist.
Authorities and local media said rescuers were working to get to a passage way to the basement in hopes there were survivors. They said it was slow going as engineers had to check the stability of what remained of the building.
The hotel, housed in a more than century-old building, had been closed and only workers were inside at the time of the explosion, state-run TV said.
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02.27
A deadly explosion hit a well-known hotel in downtown Havana on Friday, tearing a gash several floors high in the side of the building, killing at least 22 people and injuring upwards of 70, witnesses and state media said, APA reports citinbg Reuters.
Speaking from the scene on Cuban television, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the blast at the historic, high-end Hotel Saratoga appeared to have been caused by a gas leak.
"In no case was it a bomb or an attack," he later told Reuters as he left the capital's Calixto Garcia hospital, where many of the injured were treated. 'It's just a very unfortunate accident."
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At least nine people were killed on Friday after a huge explosion destroyed the Hotel Saratoga in Havana, Cuba, according to Cuban state TV, APA reports citing Reuters.
Earlier Friday, Cuban officials said a gas leak is thought to be the cause of the explosion at Hotel Saratoga.
"Everything indicates that the explosion was caused by an accident," the Cuban Presidential Office said in a tweet, adding that at least 30 people have been hospitalized after Friday's blast.
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A deadly explosion hit a well-known hotel in downtown Havana on Friday, tearing a gash several floors high into the side of the building, killing at least eight people and sending another 30 to hospital, witnesses and Cuban state media said, APA reports citing Reuters.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel, speaking from the scene of the disaster on Cuban television, said the explosion at the Hotel Saratoga had not been caused by a bomb, adding that a gas leak appeared to be the most likely cause.
State TV reported that the blast was "not a terrorist attack," and that while search and rescue efforts were ongoing it was unclear if additional victims remain trapped in the rubble.
The hotel had been closed and only workers were inside at time of the explosion, the state-run channel added, citing Roberto Enrique Calzadilla, a representative of the military-run company that operates many of the country's hotels.
In a broadcast interview, Calzadilla said the 96-room hotel had been set to re-open in the next few days and that the workers on site were making final preparations.
He also pointed to a gas leak as the possible cause of the tragedy.
"The workers were... making repairs and doing all the work to open the property and in the morning they were resupplying the gas and it seems some accident caused an explosion," he said.
Photos from Granma, the Communist Party's official daily, showed images of the hotel with walls apparently blown out.
Police and rescue workers flocked to the area, cordoning off key points and buildings nearby, including the historic Capitolio building.
A photo from the scene showed what appeared to be at least one body on the scene with a white cloth over it.
Nearby, ambulances were seen approaching a hospital in the old quarter of Havana surrounded by a crowd of doctors, nurses, police and curious onlookers.
The neoclassical style hotel was remodeled by a British company after the fall of the Soviet Union and was considered the place to go for visiting government officials and celebrities for many years. Recently, it had lost some of its shine with the opening of new hotels in Havana, but was still a five-star venue.
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