EFE
The Havana authorities raised this Saturday to 25 the number of dead in the strong explosion that occurred the day before in a luxury hotel in the center of the Cuban capital.
In an interview on Cuban Television (TVC), the coordinator of the Government of Havana, Orestes Llanes Mestre, indicated that during the night three more bodies had been recovered from the 22 so far located.
The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced for its part that among the deceased is a Spanish citizen. The Cuban authorities, for the moment, have not provided information on the dead.
Llanes did not offer new information about the injured, which in the last count, the day before, were 64 people, with 50 adults (18 serious and critical) and 14 minors (three critical and two serious).
Throughout the night, debris removal and rescue work continued at the scene of the accident, amid strong security measures, given the risk of new landslides.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who visited the site shortly after the incident, stressed that it was an “unfortunate accident” and totally ruled out that it was a “bomb” or an “attack.”
The event occurred minutes before 11 in the morning, when a liquefied gas tanker truck was serving a hotel tank. The most likely thesis is that the explosion was due to a leak.
The explosion caused a section of the building -seven stories high- to collapse and the facade of the first three floors to detach, causing a shower of rubble on the sidewalk. The tanker truck was partially buried.
The explosion caused a large column of white smoke, which was visible in much of the capital.
Firefighters, police officers and emergency teams rushed to the scene of the events, taking those affected to various hospitals. A nearby school was evacuated.
A group of specialists then began to clear the area in search of possible victims trapped in the building, tasks that lasted until night.
At the same time, the damaged tanker truck, which still had highly flammable liquefied gas inside, was lifted with a crane and with great precautions, and it was deposited in a large truck for its transfer.
In the next few days, a technical inspection of the building will have to be carried out to decide if it can be restored or if the structural damage warrants its demolition.
The Minister of Construction, René Mesa Villafaña, indicated that it seems that the building “is recoverable”, but that a technical analysis is necessary.
The Saratoga is housed in a neoclassical-style building built in 1880, which has been a hotel since 1911. Its last restoration took place in 2005, according to official media.
With five stars, the hotel is considered one of the most luxurious in the city. The establishment is located in the Paseo del Prado, one of the main avenues of Old Havana, in the historic center of the Cuban capital.
