Nine dead and many injured after explosion in emblematic hotel in Havana

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HAVANA (AP) — A deadly explosion hit a well-known hotel in downtown Havana on Friday, ripping a gash several stories high in the side of the building, killing at least 22 people and injuring more than 70, they said. witnesses and state media.

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Speaking from the scene on Cuban television, President Miguel Díaz-Canel said the explosion at the historic and luxurious Hotel Saratoga appeared to have been caused by a gas leak.

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

However, the blast sparked a brief wave of panic in the historic Old Havana neighborhood, which has gradually begun to reopen to tourists after the pandemic hit the Caribbean island’s crucial tourism sector.

Hundreds of Cubans and tourists gathered near the property in a blazing sun as police cordoned off the area around the hotel. Many speculated about the cause of the explosion as ambulances and rescuers pulled victims from the rubble.

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The blast rocked a nearby school attended by more than 300 students, health authorities said. At least 15 children were injured as of Friday night, the Health Ministry said, and one child was killed.

Cuban Tourism Minister Juan Carlos Garcia said no foreigners were killed or injured in the blast, according to initial reports.

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

In a broadcast interview, Calzadilla said the 96-room hotel was scheduled to reopen in the next few days and workers on site were making final preparations.

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He also said that a gas leak appeared to be the cause.

“The workers were… doing repairs and doing all the work to open up the property and in the morning they were refueling the gas and it looks like some accident caused an explosion,” he said.

The blast engulfed the building and surrounding streets in plumes of black smoke and dust that rose from the rubble.

Police and rescuers moved quickly to cordon off some nearby government buildings, including the historic Capitol, or capital building.

A photo from the scene showed what appeared to be at least one body covered in a white cloth. A block from the blast, a man took a woman screaming in pain to a clinic, as bystanders clamored for information about her loved ones.

The neoclassical Saratoga Hotel was remodeled by a British company after the fall of the Soviet Union and for many years was considered the place to stay for government officials and visiting celebrities.

It had recently lost some of its shine with the opening of new hotels in Havana, but it was still a five-star hotel.