Gas leak blamed for blast at iconic Havana hotel that killed 22

Havana, May 7 / BNA /: A fatal explosion in a well-known hotel in downtown Havana, today, Friday, caused wounds in several floors in the side of the building, killing at least 22 people and wounding more than 70 others, according to eyewitnesses. and authorized. The media said.

Speaking at the scene on Cuban television, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the explosion at the upscale historic Saratoga Hotel appeared to have been caused by a gas leak.

“It was by no means a bomb or an attack,” he told Reuters later as he left Calixto Garcia Hospital in the capital, where many of the wounded were treated. “It’s just a very unfortunate accident.”

However, the explosion caused a brief wave of panic in Havana’s historic district, which is gradually beginning to reopen to tourists after the pandemic hit the Caribbean island’s vital travel sector.

Hundreds of Cubans and tourists alike gathered near the hotel in the blazing sun as police cordoned off the area around the hotel. Many speculated about the cause of the explosion as ambulances and rescue workers removed the victims from under the wreckage.

Health authorities said the explosion rocked a nearby school attended by more than 300 students. As of late Friday evening, at least 15 children had been infected, and one child had died, the health ministry said.

Cuban Tourism Minister Juan Carlos Garcia said that the explosion did not cause deaths or injuries to foreigners, according to initial reports.

State television, citing Roberto Enrique Calzadella, a representative of the army-run company that operates several businesses, said the hotel, which is located in a more than a century-old building, was closed and only workers were inside at the time of the explosion. country hotels.

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In a radio interview, Calzadella said the 96-room hotel was due to reopen in the next few days and that workers on the site were making final preparations.

He also said that the cause appeared to be a gas leak.

“The workers were… doing repairs and doing all the work to open the building and in the morning they were resupplying the gas and some accidents seem to have caused an explosion,” he said.

The explosion covered the building and the surrounding streets in plumes of black smoke and dust rising from under the rubble.

Police and rescue workers moved quickly to cordon off some of the nearby government buildings, including the historic Capitolio or the Capitol building.

An image from the scene showed what appeared to be at least one dead body with a white piece of cloth on top. In the distance from the explosion, a man carried a woman screaming in pain to a clinic while onlookers begged for information about their loved ones.

Remodeled in neoclassical style by a British company after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Saratoga Hotel was for many years considered a place to stay by visiting government officials and celebrities.

Lately, it has lost some of its luster with the opening of new hotels in Havana, but it was still a five star place.

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