Credit, Reuters
Hotel Saratoga is one of the most expensive and luxurious in Havana
At least 22 people were killed and 70 injured in a blast on Friday (06/05) at the Saratoga Hotel, one of the most expensive and luxurious in Havana, the capital of Cuba.
According to the Cuban government, 21 adults and one minor were among the dead. Another 13 people are reported missing. Rescue teams are continuing their search because other people could be trapped under rubble, according to the Granma newspaper, the official publication of the Cuban government.
According to the island’s presidency, “preliminary investigations indicate that the explosion was caused by a gas leak”.
Doctors and first responders told local media that the capital’s health system was working and that the injured, some of them children, had been taken to various hospitals, some in “critical condition” and in need of surgery.
Havana Governor Reinaldo Garcia Zapata said the hotel was being renovated at the time of the blast, so there were no tourists in place.
An elementary school opposite the hotel was evacuated after the explosion.
What happened?
Sulma Rodríguez, a resident of central Havana, said a “very loud noise” was heard in the city shortly before 11 a.m. (local time). A “smoke ball” was later seen in the hotel area.
“When I arrived [ao local da explosão] they had already closed the street because [o presidente Miguel Díaz] Canel was there, but everything was full of wrecks, including several cars and guaguas (buses), “Rodriguez told BBC News Mundo, the BBC’s Spanish service.
“They are asking people to donate blood and take the wounded to various hospitals. Ambulances and police cars can be heard passing by,” he added.
The Cubadebate website, developed by journalists from the country, reported that the emergency teams went to the scene and closed several accesses on the nearby streets “because there is a danger that the hotel structure will collapse”.
Credit, Reuters
Saratoga Hotel remains after Friday’s blast
Images posted on social media show that several buildings in the vicinity of the hotel were also hit by the explosion – some trees also fell.
What is known about the causes of the explosion?
Shortly after the explosion, several Cubans speculated on social media that it could be an extremist attack, as Cuba is a nation that has suffered several attacks on its tourist facilities in previous decades.
However, the local press and subsequent authorities have clarified that the preliminary reports indicate a gas leak.
“It was not a bomb or an attack, it was an unfortunate accident,” said President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who visited the site of the explosion.
Havana Communist Party Secretary Luis Antonio Torres Iríbar confirmed that “we are talking about an accident whose causes are being investigated.”
A witness told Granma that just before the noise he saw that “the gas truck was filling the hotel with liquefied gas reserves.”
Travel authorities plan to reopen the hotel next week, after years of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit the island’s tourism sector hard.
Credit, Getty Images
The hotel was undergoing renovations to be reopened soon
What is known about victims?
The Cuban Ministry of Tourism said that “according to a preliminary report”, most of the dead and injured were workers at the Saratoga Hotel, who were preparing the site for its reopening.
The injured were taken to several hospitals in the city. Authorities asked the population to donate blood.
The Havana director of education said five students were injured, three of them from an elementary school across the street from the hotel.
The Ministry of Health reported that a child had to be operated on urgently for a skull fracture and that an adult needed an amputation.
State media confirmed that several people were trapped under the rubble.
A journalist from Granma said that “the most dramatic thing is to know that there are people alive who are still trapped and that saving them means moving every piece of rubble with millimeter precision”.
It is not known how many people were in Saratoga at the time of the accident or how many were driving nearby, but the area is one of the busiest in the capital, close to bus and taxi stations and very close to the Havana Capitol, Paseo del Prado and other tourist attractions. .
The Ministry of Health announced that it will provide more details about the victims on Friday night.
How important is the Saratoga Hotel?
Credit, AFP
The hotel has been a favorite of many famous artists who have visited Havana
Originally built in 1880 to house warehouses, villas and guests, the neoclassical Saratoga hotel became a hotel in 1933 and soon, like many Havana buildings, was abandoned.
It was in ruins until it was restored by a British company after the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. It was no longer used as a five-star hotel until 2005, making it one of the most luxurious hotels in Havana.
According to local media, when it was reopened, the hotel was designed to be a “luxury development, for business people and honeymooners. These features make it unique in a range of hotels in the historic center of Havana. ”
With its neoclassical façade, French windows, mahogany shutters and wrought iron balconies, it was one of the favorite places of many celebrities visiting Havana, due to its position between the center and the historic area of the capital (all its rooms were apartments).
Beyoncé, Jay Z and Madonna stayed in this hotel during their visits to Havana, after the close relations between Cuba and the United States during the Barack Obama administration.
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