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Gas leak blamed for explosion at iconic Havana hotel that killed 22
The Tribune India reported, citing the Associated Press, a powerful explosion apparently caused by a natural gas leak killed at least 22 people, including a child, and injured dozens when it blew away outer walls from a luxury hotel in the heart of Cuba's capital.
Havana Gov. Reinaldo García Zapata told the Communist Party newspaper Granma that no tourists were staying at Havana's 96-room Hotel Saratoga because it was undergoing renovations.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who visited the site, said in a tweet: "It's not a bomb or an attack. It is a tragic accident."
Dr Julio Guerra Izquierdo, chief of hospital services at the Ministry of Health, told reporters that at least 74 people had been injured on Friday. According to a tweet from Díaz-Canel's office, among them were 14 children.
Díaz-Canel said families in buildings near the hotel affected by the explosion had been transferred to safer locations.
Cuban state TV reported the explosion was caused by a truck that had been supplying natural gas to the hotel, but did not provide details on how the gas ignited. A white tanker truck was seen being removed from the site as rescue workers hosed it down with water.
Cuba's national health minister, José Ángel Portal, told The Associated Press the number of injured could rise as the search continues for people who may be trapped in the rubble of the 19th century structure in the Old Havana neighbourhood of the city.
hosted the final day of a tourism convention
in the iconic beach town of Varadero aimed
at drawing investors (Photo: Pixabay)
Lt. Col. Noel Silva of the Fire Department said: "We are still looking for a large group of people who may be under the rubble."
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The Hotel Saratoga has been used frequently by visiting VIPs and political figures, including high-ranking US government delegations. Beyoncé and Jay-Z stayed there during a 2013 visit to Cuba.
Besides the pandemic's impact on Cuba's tourism sector, the country was already struggling with the sanctions imposed by the former US President Donald Trump that have been kept in place the Biden administration. The sanctions limited visits by US tourists to the islands and restricted remittances from Cubans in the US to their families in Cuba.
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Tourism had started to revive somewhat early this year, but the war in Ukraine crimped a boom of Russian visitors, who accounted for almost a third of the tourists arriving in Cuba last year.
The explosion happened as Cuba's government hosted the final day of a tourism convention in the iconic beach town of Varadero aimed at drawing investors.
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Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is scheduled to arrive in Havana for a visit late Saturday and Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said the visit would still take place.
Source: tribuneindia
