On Saturday, relatives of the missing in Cuba’s capital urgently searched for victims of an explosion at one of Havana’s most luxury hotels, which killed at least 27 people. If they were unsuccessful, they returned to the partially collapsed Hotel Saratoga, where rescuers deployed dogs to look for survivors.
The likely cause of Friday’s blast at the 96-room hotel was a natural gas leak. The 19th-century edifice in the Old Havana area was empty at the time since it was receiving restorations in preparation for its reopening on Tuesday after being closed for two years due to the epidemic.
Cuban authorities confirmed the tourist’s death and said her partner was injured. They were not staying at the hotel. Tourism Minister Dalila González said a Cuban-American tourist was also injured.
On Saturday evening, Dr. Julio Guerra Izquierdo, the Ministry of Health’s chief of hospital services, upped the dead toll to 27, with 81 persons injured. Four children and a pregnant mother were among those killed. Spain’s President, Pedro Sánchez, announced on Twitter that a Spanish tourist was killed and another Spaniard was critically injured.
During a news conference Saturday, representatives of Grupo de Turismo Gaviota SA, which owns the hotel, stated that 51 staff, as well as two persons working on repairs, were inside the hotel at the time. Eleven were murdered, thirteen were missing, and six were hospitalized.