Deadly Explosion Rocks Hotel in Cuba, Gas Leak Suspected
HAVANA (Reuters) — A deadly explosion hit a well-known hotel in downtown Havana on Friday, tearing a gash several floors high into the side of the building, killing at least eight people and sending another 30 to hospital, witnesses and Cuban state media said.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel, speaking from the scene of the disaster on Cuban television, said the explosion at the Hotel Saratoga had not been caused by a bomb, adding that a gas leak appeared to be the most likely cause.
“It has not been a bomb or an attack. It is a tragic accident,” President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who visited the site, said in the tweet.
Officials on the scene said many are still trapped under the rubble of the luxury hotel, but police and fire rescuers are combing through for survivors.
An unnamed teacher from the Concepción Arenal School, which was also damaged by the explosion, told the NY Times that three students were wounded when shards from windows blown out ricochet from the impact.
The hotel had been closed and only workers were inside at time of the explosion, the state-run channel added, citing Roberto Enrique Calzadilla, a representative of the military-run company that operates many of the country's hotels.
In a broadcast interview, Calzadilla said the 96-room hotel had been set to re-open in the next few days and that the workers on site were making final preparations.
He also pointed to a gas leak as the possible cause of the tragedy.
"The workers were... making repairs and doing all the work to open the property and in the morning they were resupplying the gas and it seems some accident caused an explosion," he said.
Photos from Granma, the Communist Party's official daily, showed images of the hotel with walls apparently blown out.
Police and rescue workers flocked to the area, cordoning off key points and buildings nearby, including the historic Capitolio building.
A photo from the scene showed what appeared to be at least one body on the scene with a white cloth over it.
Nearby, ambulances were seen approaching a hospital in the old quarter of Havana surrounded by a crowd of doctors, nurses, police and curious onlookers.
The neoclassical style hotel was remodeled by a British company after the fall of the Soviet Union and was considered the place to go for visiting government officials and celebrities for many years. Recently, it had lost some of its shine with the opening of new hotels in Havana, but was still a five-star venue.
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