Cuba | Death toll in Havana hotel explosion rises to 25

(Havana) The powerful explosion which partially destroyed the Saratoga hotel in central Havana on Friday killed at least 25 people, including a Spanish tourist, according to a new official report released on Saturday.

The previous toll, given on Friday evening, was 22 dead and more than 50 injured in this explosion, probably due to a gas leak, but state television indicated on Saturday morning that the number of deaths was now 25.

“Tragic news comes to us from Cuba,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted: “A Spanish tourist has died and another Spanish citizen is seriously injured after the explosion at the Saratoga hotel. All our affection to the families and to all the victims and injured. All our support also for the Cuban people”.

Cuban rescuers continued to search through the rubble of the luxury hotel on Saturday, hoping to find new survivors, an AFP journalist said. The search is now focused on the interior of the building and the basement, the television said.

“What happened is very regrettable, the destruction, especially the loss of life, and also the injured people, but once again I want to highlight the speed with which the population and the institutions mobilized”, wrote on Twitter President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

“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.

Emblematic establishment of Old Havana with its green facade, the hotel, under construction, had been closed to tourists for two years.

Only workers and employees were inside preparing for its reopening, scheduled for May 10.

The first four floors of the Saratoga hotel, classified 5 stars and known for having hosted several celebrities in recent years including Mick Jagger, Beyoncé and Madonna, were blown up in the explosion, which occurred around 11 a.m. on Friday.

Built in 1880 to house shops, the building was transformed into a hotel in 1933 and renovated into a luxury establishment in 2005.