(Havana) At least one person died, a firefighter, and two others, including a firefighter, are missing after the collapse of a building in Havana where around fifty people lived, emergency services and authorities announced on Wednesday. state media.
A woman, a member of a fire brigade who came to the scene to secure the scene after a first collapse, died during rescue operations in a second collapse, a firefighter told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Another firefighter as well as a resident of the building, aged 76, are still missing, according to the same source which specified that only the facade of the building remained.
Two people were injured and taken to hospital, but their lives are not in danger, according to the official daily Granmawhich specifies that emergency services were dispatched to the scene, in Old Havana, around 11 p.m. Tuesday.
Five trucks and a crane were sent to the site, noted an AFP journalist.
A total of 55 people lived in the building, which was old, according to Arnelis de la Candelaria Hernandez, an official with the Housing Directorate of Old Havana.
Due to lack of maintenance, buildings regularly collapse in certain old neighborhoods of the Cuban capital. These collapses are more numerous during the rainy and hurricane season, from June to November.
The Cuban capital has experienced heavy rains in recent days.
According to the latest official figures available, 37% of the 3.9 million housing units in Cuba were, at the end of 2020, in poor or very poor condition.
That year, the fall of a balcony from a building in the old town caused the death of three little girls, sparking great emotion in the country.