HAVANA >> Relatives of the disappeared in Cuba’s capital were desperately searching Saturday for the victims of an explosion at one of Havana’s most luxurious hotels that killed at least 27 people. They checked the morgue, hospitals and, if unsuccessful, returned to the partially collapsed Hotel Saratoga, where rescuers used dogs to search for survivors.
A natural gas leak was the apparent cause of Friday’s explosion at the 96-room hotel. The 19th-century structure in the Old Havana neighborhood had no guests at the time because it was undergoing renovations ahead of a planned reopening Tuesday after being closed for two years during the pandemic.
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.
The Cuban authorities confirmed the death of the tourist and said that her partner was injured. They were not staying at the hotel. Tourism Minister Dalila González said a Cuban-American tourist was also injured.
Representatives from Grupo de Turismo Gaviota SA, which owns the hotel, said during a press conference on Saturday that 51 workers were inside the hotel at the time, as well as two people working on renovations. Of them, 11 were killed, 13 remained missing and six were hospitalized.
Gonzalez said the cause of the explosion was still under investigation, but a large crane lifted a charred tanker truck from the rubble of the hotel early Saturday morning.
Search and rescue teams worked overnight and into Saturday, using ladders to descend through debris and twisted metal in the hotel’s basement as heavy machinery gingerly removed piles from the building’s facade to allow access. Above, bits of drywall hung from wires, desks seemingly intact inches from the void where the front of the building split.
At least one survivor was found early Saturday in the shattered ruins, with rescuers using search dogs scrambling over huge chunks of concrete looking for more. Relatives of the missing persons remained at the scene, while others gathered at hospitals where the wounded were being treated.
A desperate Yatmara Cobas was outside the perimeter waiting for news from her daughter, Shaidis Cobas, a 27-year-old housekeeper.
“My daughter is at the Saratoga; she’s been there since 8 am (Friday), and right now I don’t know anything about her,” Cobas said. “She’s not in the morgue, she’s not in the hospital.” The mother said that she had gone everywhere looking for answers from the authorities, but that she had nothing.
“I’m tired of the lies,” she said.
Governor Reinaldo García Zapata said Saturday night that 19 families reported their loved ones missing and that rescue efforts would continue.
Lieutenant Colonel Enrique Peña informed Commander Ramiro Valdés, who fought alongside Fidel Castro, about the search efforts at the site. Peña said the presence of people had been detected on the first floor and in the basement and that four teams of search and guide dogs were working. He did not know if the victims were alive or dead.
“I don’t want to move from here,” Cristina Avellar told The Associated Press near the hotel.
Avellar was waiting for news from Odalys Barrera, a 57-year-old cashier who has worked at the hotel for five years. She is the godmother of Barrera’s daughters and considers her as a sister to her.
Neighbors were still in shock a day after the blast.
“I thought it was a bomb,” said Guillermo Madan, a 73-year-old retiree who lives a few meters from the building, but was not injured. The neighborhood resident of three decades was cooking and watching television when he heard the explosion. “My room moved from here to there. My neighbor’s window was broken, the dishes, everything.”
Katerine Marrero, 31, was out shopping at the time. “I came out of the store, I felt the explosion,” she said. “Everyone started running.”
Although no tourists were reported injured, the blast is another blow to the country’s crucial tourism industry.
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.
A school of 300 students next to the hotel was evacuated.
The iconic hotel had a stunning view of central Cuba, including the domed Capitol building about 100 meters (110 yards) away. The Capitol suffered broken glass and damaged masonry from the blast.
The hotel was renovated in 2005 as part of the Cuban government’s revival of Old Havana and is owned by the Cuban military’s commercial tourism arm, Grupo de Turismo Gaviota SA. The company said it was investigating the cause of the explosion and did not respond to an email from the AP seeking more details about the hotel and the renovation it was undergoing.
In the past, the Hotel Saratoga has been used by visiting personalities and political figures, including high-ranking US government delegations. Beyoncé and Jay-Z stayed there in 2013.
Garcia Zapata said structures adjacent to the hotel were being evaluated, including two badly damaged apartment buildings. Díaz-Canel said that the families in the affected buildings had been moved to safer places.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador arrived in Havana for a visit on Saturday night. He was scheduled to meet with Díaz Canel on Sunday morning and return to Mexico on Sunday night.
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