Crews work through second night after Cuba hotel explosion kills 27

HAVANA (AP) — Crews worked a second night searching for victims of a hotel explosion that killed at least 27 people in Cuba’s capital and left more than a dozen missing in the rubble.

The Hotel Saratoga, a luxurious 96-room hotel in Old Havana, was finishing renovations when an apparent gas leak caused a massive explosion on Friday.

Just steps from Cuba’s capitol, the Saratoga’s facade was sliced ​​through, burying workers inside and apparently bystanders outside under concrete and twisted metal. The explosion occurred late in the morning when the streets and the square in front of the majestic hotel would have been full of pedestrians.

On Saturday night, Dr. Julio Guerra Izquierdo, head of hospital services at the Ministry of Health, raised the death toll to 27 and 81 wounded. Among the dead were four children and a pregnant woman. Spanish President Pedro Sánchez said via Twitter that a Spanish tourist was among the dead and another Spaniard was seriously injured.

Some 37 people remained hospitalized, according to the Health Ministry.

Earlier on Saturday afternoon, a representative from Grupo de Turismo Gaviota SA, which owns the hotel, said 13 of its workers were still missing. Governor Reinaldo García Zapata said Saturday night that 19 families had reported their loved ones missing and that rescue efforts would continue.

At least one survivor was found early Saturday in the shattered ruins.

Authorities said the cause of the explosion was still under investigation, but believed it was caused by a gas leak. A large crane pulled a calcined gas tanker truck out of the rubble on Saturday.

The explosion is another blow to the country’s crucial tourism industry.

Crews worked busily to clear the surrounding streets, and by Saturday night, a significant amount of foot traffic had resumed. Some nearby buildings were also heavily damaged by the blast that blew out windows and rattled walls.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic kept tourists away from Cuba, the country was struggling with tougher sanctions imposed by former US President Donald Trump and kept the Biden administration in place. Those limited visits by US tourists to the islands and restricted remittances from Cubans in the US to their families in Cuba.

Tourism had begun to revive somewhat earlier this year, but the war in Ukraine deflated a boom in Russian visitors, who accounted for nearly a third of tourists to Cuba last year.

Attention began to shift to an official visit by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who arrived in the capital on Saturday night. López Obrador was wrapping up a five-country tour that began in Central America.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel visited Mexico during the independence day celebrations last year. López Obrador has recently spoken out against the apparent intention of the United States government to exclude Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the Summit of the Americas that it will host in Los Angeles in June.