Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel indicated that it was an “unfortunate accident” and totally ruled out that it was a “bomb” or an “attack.” Among the deceased are four children and a pregnant woman. A Spanish tourist lost her life, as confirmed by the Spanish government.
This Saturday the death toll rose to 26 in the strong explosion that occurred the day before in a luxury hotel in the center of HavanaCuban authorities reported this Saturday.
The first secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba in Havana, Luis Antonio Torres, specified that 25 of the dead have been identified and their relatives have already been contacted.
The victims include four children and a pregnant woman.; and most of the deceased are from Havana, three from Holguín (east), one from Matanzas (west), added the source cited by the local newspaper Tribuna de La Habana.
It also transpired that a Spanish tourist died in the event and another tourist of the same nationality was among the injured reported as “very serious,” according to sources from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The injured add up to 64: 50 adults and 14 minors.
Throughout the night they have continued in the crash site the work of clearing debris and rescue, among strong security measures, given the risk of new landslides.
The Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, who visited the place shortly following the incident, stressed that It was an “unfortunate accident” and totally ruled out that it was a “bomb” or an “attack”.
The event occurred minutes before 11 in the morning, when a liquefied gas tanker truck was serving a hotel tank. The most likely thesis is that the explosion was due to a leak.
The explosion caused a section of the building -seven stories high- to collapse and the facade of the first three floors to detach, causing a shower of rubble on the sidewalk. The tanker truck was partially buried.
The explosion caused a large column of white smoke, which was visible in much of the capital.
Firefighters, police officers and emergency teams quickly rushed to the scene, taking those affected to various hospitals. A nearby school was evacuated.
A group of specialists then began to clear the area in search of possible victims trapped in the building, tasks that lasted until night.
At the same time, the damaged tanker truck, which still had highly flammable liquefied gas inside, was lifted with a crane and with great precautions, and it was deposited in a large truck for its transfer.
In the next few days, a technical inspection of the building will have to be carried out to decide if it can be restored or if the structural damage warrants its demolition.
The Minister of Construction, René Mesa Villafaña, indicated that it seems that the building “is recoverable”, but that it is necessary to carry out a technical analysis.
The Saratoga is housed in a neoclassical-style building built in 1880, which has been a hotel since 1911. 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.
Update: A first version of this article was updated with information provided by the Cuban authorities to the international media. The fatality count increased from 25 to 26.
