Cuba: New death toll from hotel blast – Spanish woman among them

LAST UPDATE: 22:42

The blast, which partially destroyed the Saratoga Hotel in central Havana yesterday, killed at least 26 people, including a Spanish tourist, and injured 46 others, according to the latest figures released by Cuban authorities.

The previous report, announced last night, said 22 people were killed and more than 50 injured in the blast, which was probably caused by a gas leak.

“Tragic news is coming to us from Cuba,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted.

“A Spanish tourist was killed and another Spanish citizen was seriously injured after the explosion at the Saratoga Hotel. We express our condolences to the families, the victims and the injured. We also extend our condolences to the Cuban people.”

Cuban rescuers are continuing their search for the wreckage of the luxury hotel today, hoping to find survivors, an AFP reporter reported. Investigations are focused on the inside of the building and the basement, the state television network reported.

“What has happened is very sad. The catastrophe, especially the loss of life and also the injured, but once again I want to emphasize the speed with which the population and the institutions mobilized,” President Miguel Dias wrote on Twitter. -Cannamel.

Havana’s iconic building, with its green facade, the hotel, where renovation works were carried out, was closed to tourists for two years.

Inside were only workers and employees, preparing for its reopening, which was scheduled for May 10.

The first four floors of the 5-star Saratoga Hotel, known for hosting celebrities such as Mick Jagger, Beyoncé and Madonna, were leveled by the blast, which struck around 1100 local time yesterday morning.

Earlier, Miguel Garcia, director of Calixto Garcia Hospital, where several injured people were treated, said eleven were “in critical condition”.

“A two-year-old boy is being operated on as he suffered a ‘skull fracture,'” said Miguel Hernan Esteves, director of Hermanos Almejeiras Hospital.

The first secretary of the Communist Party in Havana, Luis Antonio Torres Iribar, had earlier said “13 people were missing”, but said “others may have been trapped” in the wreckage.

“It was not a bomb, it was not an attack, it is a tragic accident,” said President Miguel Dias-Canel, who went to the scene shortly after the blast to put an end to rumors circulating on social media about the bombing. similar to those against Havana hotels in the 1990s, at the behest of anti-government Cuban exiles.

Washington, through US State Department spokesman Ned Price, expressed “sincere condolences” to “all those affected by this tragic explosion.”

European Union Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said on Twitter that he had contacted Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez to inquire “about the situation after the Havana bombing”, adding that he had expressed “my condolences and my condolences to her.” “.

“The Cuban people have the solidarity and support of all the peoples of the world, and especially the people of Bolivia.”

The first four floors of Saratoga, a 96-room 5-star hotel with two restaurants and a rooftop pool, were virtually destroyed when the blast occurred at around 11:00 (local time; around 18:00 Greek time). Debris and broken glasses were scattered throughout the area, AFP reporters on the ground said.

A few minutes after the explosion, a cloud of thick smoke and dust covered Prado Avenue, where the hotel is located.

Dozens of ambulances and five fire trucks were mobilized.

Many vehicles were destroyed around the hotel, which in recent years had hosted various celebrities, from Mick Jagger to Beyoncé and Madonna.

Built in 1880 to house shops, the building was converted into a hotel in 1993. Renovated – became more luxurious – in 2005.