Explosion in a Cuban hotel | Death toll rises to 27, excavations continue

(Havana) A body was removed on Saturday from the rubble of the Saratoga Hotel, an emblematic establishment in Havana blown up the day before by an explosion, bringing the new provisional toll to 27 dead.

“There is a new death, [un corps] removed from the scene, which brings the balance sheet to 27″, indicated during a press conference doctor Julio Guerra, head of hospital services of the Ministry of Health, specifying that it is a woman of 57 years.

Several Cuban independent media reported 19 missing, publishing a list with their names and contact number. The authorities only indicated that 19 families had asked for news of their relatives.

Four children and teenagers are among the victims of this explosion, probably due to a gas leak.

Of the 81 people injured, 37 remained hospitalized on Saturday at the end of the day, said Doctor Guerra.

If no tourists were inside the Saratoga hotel, closed for two years due to the pandemic, workers and employees were preparing for its reopening after work, scheduled for next Tuesday.

“At the time of the accident, 51 employees were working in the building […]of which 11 are deceased according to what is known at the moment, 13 are missing, six are hospitalized and the rest managed to get out in time”, explained during a press conference Roberto Enriquez Calzadilla , spokesperson for the Gaviota tourist group.

” You need to go forward ”

Among the victims is a 29-year-old Spanish tourist who was walking near the hotel, her husband, also Spanish, being seriously injured. “All our affection to the families and to all the victims and injured. All our support also for the Cuban people,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted.

“My daughter works at Saratoga, she is there [sous les décombres] since yesterday, at eight o’clock in the morning, and since all this time I have not known anything about her, ”Told, tearful, Yaumara Cobas to journalists, explaining that she had not found her daughter either in the morgue or in a hospital.

The search for bodies or survivors continued on Saturday evening in the two underground floors, access to which is complicated by the large amount of rubble, noted an AFP journalist.

On Friday afternoon, a woman called for help from the basement.

“We have to move forward, there may still be comrades who are below, alive, and the longer we delay, the less chance they have of staying alive,” said Ramiro Valdés, Deputy Prime Minister and commander of the 1959 revolution.

Located a stone’s throw from the famous Capitol, seat of the National Assembly, the Saratoga is an emblem of Old Havana with its recognizable green facade and its image as a star hotel – it has notably welcomed Mick Jagger, Beyoncé and Madonna.

But on Saturday morning, it displayed its gutted carcass, the first four floors having been blown away by the explosion.

Residents evacuated

On Twitter, President Miguel Diaz-Canel praised “the speed with which the population and institutions have mobilized”.

“It was solidarity that prevailed,” he added as many Cubans rushed on Friday to donate blood and thus come to the aid of the wounded.

Residents of neighboring homes damaged by the blast were evacuated as a precaution to accommodation centers, the television said.

Built in 1880 to house shops, the neoclassical building was transformed into a hotel in 1933 and renovated into a luxury establishment in 2005, classified 5 stars with its 96 rooms, two restaurants and swimming pool on the roof.

The first elements indicate that a gas leak during a refueling operation by a tanker truck was the cause of the explosion, which occurred around 11 a.m. (3 p.m. GMT) on Friday.

On Friday, the United States, Canada, the European Union and Venezuela in particular expressed their condolences to the Cuban authorities.

On Saturday, China said it was “deeply saddened by the loss of life in [cet] accident”, Russian President Vladimir Putin also conveying his condolences to his counterpart.