HAVANA (AP) – Relatives of those missing in the Cuban capital were desperately searching for victims of an explosion at one of Havana’s most luxurious hotels on Saturday, killing at least 26 people. They inspected the morgue, hospitals, and failed to return to the partially collapsed Saratoga Hotel, where rescuers used dogs to hunt down survivors.
A natural gas leak was the obvious cause of Friday’s explosion at a 96-room hotel. The 19th-century building in the Old Havana district had no guests at the time because it was under renovation before its planned opening on Tuesday, after it closed.
Havana’s city authorities increased the death toll to 26 on Saturday, according to the official Cubadebate news site. Among the dead were four children and a pregnant woman. Spanish President Pedro Sanchez said on Twitter that a Spanish tourist was among the dead and that another Spaniard was seriously injured.
Cuban authorities confirmed the death of the tourist and said that her partner was injured. They had not stayed at the hotel. Tourism Minister Dalila Gonzalez said a Cuban-American tourist was also injured.
Representatives of Grupo de Turismo Gaviota SA, which owns the hotel, told a news conference on Saturday that 51 workers were at the hotel at the time, as well as two people working on the renovation. Of these, 11 were killed, 13 are unaccounted for and six are hospitalized.
Gonzalez said the cause of the blast was still under investigation, but a large crane lifted a charred gas tanker from the hotel’s ruins early Saturday.
Search and rescue teams worked through the night and until Saturday, using stairs to descend through the rubble and twisted metal into the hotel’s basement, while heavy machinery carefully removed piles from the building’s facade to allow access. On top, pieces of drywall hung from wires, desks stood seemingly undisturbed inches from the emptiness where the front of the building broke off.
At least one survivor was found early Saturday in the wrecked ruins, and rescuers using search dogs climbed huge chunks of concrete, searching for more. Relatives of the missing remained at the scene, while others gathered at hospitals to treat the wounded.
Desperate, Yatmara Kobas stood outside the perimeter, waiting for news from her daughter, 27-year-old housekeeper Shaidis Kobas.
“My daughter is in Saratoga; “She’s been there since 8 a.m. (Friday) and I don’t know anything about her at the moment,” Cobas said. “She’s not in the morgue, she’s not in the hospital.” The mother said she went everywhere to seek answers from the authorities, but came empty-handed.
“I’m tired of lying,” she said.
Lt. Col. Enrique Pena informed Commander Ramiro Valdes, who was fighting alongside Fidel Castro, of efforts to find the site on Saturday morning.
Penya said the presence of people was detected on the first floor and in the basement, and four teams of search dogs and guides were working. He does not know whether the victims are alive or dead.
“I don’t want to move out of here,” Christina Avelar told the Associated Press near the hotel.
Avelar was waiting for news about Odalis 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 a sister.
Neighbors were still in shock the day after the blast.
“I thought it was a bomb,” said Guillermo Madan, a 73-year-old pensioner who lives just meters from the building but was not injured. The 30-year-old neighborhood resident was cooking and watching TV when he heard the explosion. “My room has moved from here to there. My neighbor’s window broke, the plates, everything. “
At the time, 31-year-old Caterine Marero was shopping. “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 key tourism industry.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic kept tourists away from Cuba, the country struggled with tough sanctions imposed by former US President Donald Trump and kept the Biden administration. These limited visits by American tourists to the islands and limited remittances from Cubans in the United States to their families in Cuba.
Tourism began to revive a little earlier this year, but the war in Ukraine reduced the boom in Russian visitors, who accounted for nearly a third of tourists who arrived in Cuba last year.
Dr Julio Gera Izkierdo, head of hospital services at the Ministry of Health, said at least 74 people had been injured. Among them are 14 children, according to a tweet from President Miguel Diaz-Canel’s office.
A school with 300 students near the hotel was evacuated. Havana Governor Reynaldo Garcia Zapata said five of the students were slightly injured.
The iconic hotel had stunning views of central Cuba, including the Capitol Building with a dome about 110 yards (100 meters). The Capitol received broken glass and damaged masonry from the blast.
The hotel was renovated in 2005 as part of the revival of Old Havana by the Cuban government and is owned by the Cuban military’s tourism business division, Grupo de Turismo Gaviota SA. The company said it was investigating the cause of the blast and did not respond to an email from the AP asking for more details about the hotel and the renovations it is undergoing.
In the past, the Saratoga Hotel has been used by visiting VIPs and political figures, including high-ranking US government delegations. Beyoncé and Jay-Z stayed there in 2013.
Garcia Zapata said structures near the hotel were being assessed, including two badly damaged apartment buildings. Diaz-Canel said families in the affected buildings have been relocated to safer places.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was due to arrive in Havana late Saturday, and Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the visit would still take place.
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