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, if unsuccessful, returned 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 blast at the 96-room Saratoga Hotel in Havana.
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 announced on Twitter that a Spanish tourist was among the dead and that another Spaniard was seriously injured. Cuban authorities did not provide details of the tourist’s death.
Ongoing search efforts
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 as heavy machinery carefully removed piles from the building’s facade to allow access.
Pieces of drywall hung from wires on top, and 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 ruined ruins of the hotel, and rescuers using search dogs climbed huge chunks of concrete, searching for more. Relatives of the missing remained overnight, while others gathered at hospitals to treat the wounded.
A rescuer carries a Cuban flag as he walks past the rubble after a powerful explosion shattered the Saratoga Hotel in Havana on Friday. (Adalberto Roque / AFP / Getty Images)
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 in the morning [Friday]and at the moment I don’t know anything about her, “Kobas 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 out empty-handed.
“I’m tired of lying,” she said.
Continuing shock
Lt. Col. Enrique Pena informed Commander Ramiro Valdes, who was fighting alongside Cuban leader 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.
Firefighters and rescuers removed debris from the ruins of the Saratoga Hotel in Havana on Friday. (Adalberto Roque / AFP / Getty Images)
“I don’t want to move from here,” Christina Avelar told the Associated Press near the hotel, whose exterior walls were blown up by the blast, leaving the interior of many rooms bare.
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 says she 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.”
Tourist problems
The blast appears to be 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 backed by the Biden administration. These sanctions restricted 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.
The lower floors of the Saratoga Hotel appear to have suffered most of the damage from Friday’s blast. (Ramon Espinoza / Associated Press)
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 Twitter post by 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 dome of the Capitol, about 100 meters away. The Capitol received broken glass and damaged masonry from the blast.
The hotel, which was renovated in 2005 as part of the Cuban government’s revival of Old Havana, 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 her husband 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.
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