The Cuban authorities confirmed that the preliminary number of victims from the explosion recorded this Friday at the Saratoga hotel in Havana is at least 8 dead, 13 people missing and thirty hospitalized.
The figure was released by the Cuban Presidency through Twitter. Similarly, she reported that “preliminary investigations indicate that the explosion was caused by a gas leak.”
President Miguel Diaz-Canel He is at the scene of the accident together with Prime Minister Manuel Marrero and the leader of the National Assembly of People’s Power (unicameral Parliament), Esteban Lazo.
Children from a school near the area were evacuated safe and sound, according to authorities of the Communist Party of Cuba.
The explosion occurred around 10:50 a.m. (2:50 p.m. GMT) and caused the collapse of part of the building’s façade, also affected by a fire that generated a large column of white smoke, visible from much of the city.
The ground floor, first and second floors of the six-story building were seriously affected by the explosion, which knocked down the façade, causing a shower of rubble on the street. The mountain of debris on the sidewalk exceeds the height of a person.
Upper floors were also damaged.
Emergency teams, firefighters and soldiers moved to the scene. Many onlookers also gathered around the building.
The Saratoga is housed in a neoclassical-style building built in 1880 and operating as a hotel since 1933. Its last restoration took place in 2005, according to official media.
With five stars, the hotel is considered one of the most luxurious in the city.
The establishment is located in the Paseo del Prado, one of the main avenues of Old Havana, in the historic center of the Cuban capital.
