Havana’s Saratoga Hotel partially destroyed by strong explosion

HAVANA, May 6 (Prensa Latina) The Hotel Saratoga, in the capital of Cuba, was partially destroyed by an explosion on Friday morning. A deadly explosion hit the  well-known hotel in downtown Havana today, tearing a gash several floors high in the side of the building, killing at least 22 people and injuring upwards of 70, witnesses and state media said.

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

“In no case was it a bomb or an attack,” he later told Reuters as he left the capital’s Calixto Garcia hospital, where many of the injured were treated. ‘It’s just a very unfortunate accident.”

The blast nonetheless sent a brief wave of panic through the historic old Havana neighbourhood, which has gradually begun reopening to tourists after the pandemic battered the Caribbean island’s crucial travel sector.

Hundreds of Cubans and tourists alike gathered near the property under a hot sun as police cordoned off the area around the hotel. Many speculated about the cause of the blast as ambulances and rescue workers carried victims from the wreckage.

Sad news: On Friday, the Cuban head of the Department of Hospital Services of the Public Health Ministry (MINSAP) reported that at least 18 death from the explosion at the Saratoga Hotel. #HotelSaratoga #Cuba https://t.co/Mh3VH8YVQw

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) May 7, 2022

The explosion rattled a nearby school with more than 300 students in attendance, health authorities said. At least 15 children were reported injured as of late Friday evening, the health ministry said, and one child had died.

Cuba’s tourism minister, Juan Carlos Garcia, said no foreigners were killed or injured in the blast, according to initial reports.

The hotel, housed in a more than century-old building, had been closed and only workers were inside at time of the explosion, state-run TV said, citing Roberto Enrique Calzadilla, a representative of the military-run company that operates many of the country’s hotels.

The death toll from a powerful explosion ripping through a luxury hotel in downtown Havana on Friday climbed to 18, with more than 50 injured, official sources reported. #GLOBALink pic.twitter.com/8TCSGubp7Y

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) May 7, 2022

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 said a gas leak appeared to be the cause.