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The hotel is conducting search and rescue operations.
At least 26 people have died and more than 60 have been hospitalized after a massive explosion at one of Cuba’s most famous five-star hotels. The explosion at the Saratoga Hotel across from the Capitol in Havana was most likely a gas-related accident, authorities said.
The historic five-story building was ready to open four days after a pause due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now it lies in ruins, most of the outer wall is destroyed. Search and rescue operations are underway.
A gas tank parked outside the Saratoga Hotel is believed to have caught fire, resulting in an explosion that destroyed several floors of the building. Earlier it was reported that the cause of the explosion could be a gas leak.
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The facade of the hotel was badly damaged by the explosion – the collapse of several floors
Witnesses said they saw columns of black smoke and clouds of dust in the sky after the explosion.
The school, located directly behind the hotel, was not affected, local authorities said that the children were safely evacuated.
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The explosion destroyed most of the outer wall of the building.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel visited the site of the collapse and said that the version of the terrorist attack was not being considered by the authorities: “It’s an accident.”
“In no way was this a bomb or an attack,” the Cuban president told Reuters.
According to the authorities, among the dead, according to a statement by the presidential office on Twitter, there is a pregnant woman and a child. At the same time, state television reports that only workers were inside the building at the time of the explosion.
The explosion at a five-star hotel in central Havana comes amid a resurgence in tourism in the country after two difficult years related to the Covid-19 pandemic. For most of this time, the Saratoga Hotel was closed for renovations.
Madonna, Beyoncé, Mick Jagger and other celebrities stayed in the 19th century building during the thaw between Havana and Washington under President Barack Obama.
The explosion sparked a brief wave of panic in Havana’s historic old district, which has gradually begun to reopen to tourists after the pandemic hit the island’s critical tourism sector, Reuters wrote.
Hundreds of Cubans and tourists gathered outside the hotel, and the police cordoned off the area around the hotel. State television said search and rescue efforts were ongoing and it was not yet clear if other victims were still buried under the rubble.
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