The death toll has risen to 44 explosion at the Saratoga Hotel in Havana on Friday (6/5). The body of another victim was retrieved from the wreckage yesterday Wednesday (11/5), as announced by the authorities.
“The joint operation with all our might intensified” and “we were able to retrieve another victim,” Fire Chief Luis Carlos Guzman, head of the fire brigade, told public television as broadcast by the Athens News Agency.
The 44 dead include four children and teenagers, a pregnant woman and a 29-year-old Spanish tourist.
“There is only one man left” who continues to be ignored, according to Brigadier General Guzman, who assured that the search will continue until he is found.
According to the Cuban Ministry of Health, the accident also resulted in 54 people being injured, 16 of whom are still in hospitals. Four are minors, the condition of one of them is critical.
According to Roberto Enrique Kalsadilla, a spokesman for the Cuban-based travel company Gaviota, There were 51 employees at the hotel when the explosion took place.
According to initial estimates, the structure of the hotel was affected “by 80%” by the explosion, according to him.
The Saratoga, a neoclassical building in the old town, remained closed for two years due to the pandemic and was being renovated ahead of its reopening on Tuesday when the disaster struck. The first four floors collapsed when the explosion occurred, initially due to a leak at the time the hotel was supplied by a tanker with liquefied natural gas.
It was especially famous because in the previous years it hosted various celebrities, from Mick Jagger to Beyonce and Madonna.
The building was erected in 1880 to house shops. It was converted into a hotel in 1993. It was renovated, became a five star, in 2005.
Tourism, Cuba’s main economic activity after medical services, has struggled to overcome the new coronavirus pandemic of the past two years.
Source: News Beast
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