Cuba decreed an official mourning of 42 hours starting at dawn on Friday, after recovering this Thursday the body of the last fatality due to the explosion six days ago at the Saratoga hotel in Havana which left 45 dead.
“Given the unfortunate accident that occurred at the Saratoga hotel on May 6, in which 44 compatriots and a Spanish citizen have lost their lives so far, and after the rescue and rescue actions were completed, the president of the Republic of Cuba (Miguel Díaz-Canel) agreed to decree an official duel,” said an official note read on television.
During the duel, which will run from dawn on Friday until midnight on Saturday, the Cuban flag “must be flown at half-staff in public buildings and military institutions,” added the official text.
The duel It was decreed shortly after Colonel Luis Carlos Guzmán, head of the Fire Department, announced to the press the extraction of the last death from the rubble of the hotel, which exploded at the end of Friday morning at a time when it was supplied with gas.
Guzmán, who concluded the search efforts, indicated that recovering this last body, of a hotel worker, was “a very risky job.”
With the body of this woman, there are 45 deaths in this tragedy, including four children and adolescents, a pregnant woman and the 29-year-old Spanish tourist.
According to him Ministry of Public Healththe accident, probably caused by a gas leak, also left 54 injured, of which 16 were still hospitalized this Thursday, including four minors, two of them reported in critical condition.
The emblematic five-star hotel, located on the busy Paseo del Prado in Old Havana, had been closed for two years due to the pandemic and was preparing to reopen to the public last Tuesday. Its first four floors were destroyed.
Built in 1880 and converted into a hotel in 1933, the Saratoga was known to have hosted a number of celebrities over the years, including Mick Jagger, Beyonce and Madonna.
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