The Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Caneldecreed official mourning on the Island after the conclusion of the search and rescue efforts for the victims of the tragic explosion that occurred in the Saratoga hotelin Havana, last Friday, May 6.
These tasks culminated in the afternoon of this Thursday, after the discovery of the last missing person, according to the estimates of the authorities. The victim’s body was finally extracted from the rubble by rescuers, in accordance with official media.
Colonel Luis Carlos Guzmán, head of the Cuban Fire Department, reported that after its extraction, the body was transferred to the Institute of Legal Medicine to confirm its identity. “Until this minute, he is still the last missing person,” Guzmán said in reference to the victim, presumably a hotel maid, the Spanish agency reports. EFE.
In this way, the number of fatalities from the incident rose to 45 -44 Cubans and a Spanish tourist-, while of the more than 90 injured in the event, 16 were still hospitalized, six of them in critical condition, of agree with the most recent party of the Ministry of Public Health.
The mourning, decreed by Díaz-Canel “due to the deep pain” caused by the death of these 45 people as a result of the explosion, will last from 6:00 a.m. this Friday, May 13, until midnight the next day.
After completing the rescue and salvage actions at the scene, it is confirmed that after the unfortunate accident, 44 compatriots and a Spanish citizen have lost their lives so far.
— Cuba Presidency ?? (@PresidenciaCuba) May 12, 2022
During the validity of the official mourning, the Cuban flag “must be raised at half-staff in public buildings and military institutions,” the communication specifies.
The event, classified by the authorities as an accident, was allegedly caused by a gas leak while the hotel facility was supplied by a tanker truck. The investigations in this regard continue in search of a final opinion on the cause of what happened.
After the incident, rescue teams kept working continuously for six days in search of possible survivors and the bodies of the victims among the rubble and in high-risk conditions.
The explosion caused serious damage to the hotel and other adjoining buildings, some of which are already being repaired. In the case of the hotel, the cessation of the search work will allow progress in the extraction of the debris that remains in the place and in the studies on the state of its structure, with a view to deciding on its future, according to the authorities. .
