Death toll after luxury hotel explosion in Cuba reaches 43

At least 43 people died and 97 were injured after the explosion last Friday (6) at the Hotel Saratoga in Havana, the Ministry of Health confirmed in a statement late on Tuesday (10).

The Ministry reported that among the victims there are four minors, one pregnant woman and one foreigner. Likewise, it released a list with the names of the victims who were identified.

On Tuesday, the President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, visited the surroundings of the Hotel Saratoga for the third time, according to the Cuban Presidency. On social media, Díaz-Canel said that “the priority remains finding the missing.”

Possible cause of explosion

A gas leak is believed to be the cause of the explosion at the hotel, according to the Cuban Presidential Office, which said it would release more details. “Everything indicates that the explosion was caused by an accident,” the Cuban presidential office said.

Witnesses described a “huge explosion” that destroyed buses and cars outside the hotel in central Havana.

A team from CNN on the ground he saw a bloodied woman being carried from the blast site. Firefighters were using their bare hands to move chunks of granite and stone to get people out of the rubble. Pieces of metal awnings, balconies and large chunks of stone were scattered about 300 feet from the hotel.

Díaz-Canel also visited the Hermanos Ameijeras hospital, where several victims were sent, according to images shared by the Presidential Office on Twitter. He said the explosion “wasn’t a bomb or an attack, it’s an unfortunate accident” after returning to the blast site.

Hospitals continue to treat all the injured and rescue activities continue, he added.

The hotel was built at the end of the 19th century and, in the 1930s, it was one of the most important hotels in the city. It has 96 rooms since it reopened in 2005 after a renovation, according to its website. Personalities such as the writer Rafael Alberti passed through its doors.