Death toll after explosion at luxury hotel in Cuba’s capital rises to 25

Cuban state television reported on Saturday (7) that the death toll after the luxury hotel explosion Saratoga in Havana, capital of Cuba rose to 25. The incident took place on Friday (6), and is being investigated by the country’s authorities.

Preliminary data indicate that a child and a pregnant woman are among the victims, as well as a Spanish tourist. According to television, the number of people injured in the blast rose to 65 after one person was pulled from the rubble and taken to a hospital in the city.

So far, Cuban authorities say the main hypothesis behind the explosion is an accidental gas leak. “Everything indicates that the explosion was caused by an accident,” the Cuban presidential office said in a tweet.

Images from the site showed the hotel’s facade destroyed on at least three floors. Clouds of dust and smoke could be seen rising around debris on the ground. Buses and cars were seen destroyed in the surroundings.

The Cuban Presidency’s Twitter profile reported that the president, Miguel Diaz-Canel , was at the scene of the explosion. Diáz-Canel was accompanied by the Cuban Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, and the President of the Assembly of Cuba, Esteban Lazo.

The president also visited the Hermanos Ameijeras hospital, where several of the victims were transferred.

THE CNN found that the hotel – which is one of the most popular in Havana – was practically empty because of the pandemic.

With daily rates between R$1,400 and R$7,100, the luxury hotel operates in a commercial building built in 1880 and adapted as a hotel in 1933.

It is close to the Capitol of Havana, which was the seat of the Cuban Congress until the 1959 revolution and which today houses the Cuban Academy of Sciences and the National Library of Science and Technology.

According to the website of the Hotel Saratoga, located in the historic center of the Cuban capital, the building has 96 rooms, two bars, two restaurants, a spa, a gym and a rooftop pool.