Relatives of missing persons in Cuba’s capital desperately searched for victims of a… explosion at one of Havana’s most luxurious hotels that killed at least 26 people† They checked the morgue, the hospitals and, failing that, returned to the partially collapsed Hotel Saratoga, where rescuers used dogs to hunt survivors.
Onenatural gas leak was the obvious cause of Friday’s blast in the hotel with 96 rooms. The 19th-century building in the Old Havana neighborhood had no guests at the time as it underwent renovations ahead of a scheduled reopening on Tuesday after it closed.
Havana city officials raised the death toll to 26 on Saturday, according to the official Cubadebate news site. The dead included four children and a pregnant woman.
Search and rescue teams worked through the night until Saturday, using ladders to descend through the rubble and twisted metal in the hotel’s basement, while heavy machinery carefully cleared piles from the building’s facade to gain access. Pieces of plasterboard dangled from wires above, desks stood seemingly undisturbed inches from the void where the front of the building had split.
Rescuers refused to answer questions because authorities had ordered them to avoid confusion.
At least one survivor was found in the shattered ruins early Saturday, and rescuers using sniffer dogs clambered over huge chunks of concrete in search of more. Relatives of missing persons remained on the scene while others gathered in hospitals where the injured were treated.
Rescuers search for survivors at the site of Friday’s deadly explosion that destroyed the five-star Saratoga hotel in Havana, Cuba. (AP Photo)
A desperate Yatmara Cobas stood outside the perimeter waiting to hear from her daughter, 27-year-old housekeeper Shaidis Cobas.
“My daughter is in the Saratoga; she’s been there since 8 a.m. (Friday), and at this point I don’t know anything about her,” said Cobas. “She’s not in the morgue, she’s not in the hospital.” The mother said she had been everywhere looking for answers from the authorities, but came out empty.
“I’m tired of the lies,” she said.
Lieutenant Colonel Enrique Peña informed Comandante Ramiro Valdés, who fought alongside Fidel Castro, about the searches at the site on Saturday morning.
Peña said the presence of people had been detected on the first floor and in the basement and four teams of sniffer dogs and handlers were at work. He did not know whether the victims were alive or dead.
“I don’t want to move here,” Cristina Avellar told The Associated Press near the hotel.
Avellar waited for news from Odalys 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 a day after the explosion.
“I thought it was a bomb,” said Guillermo Madan, a 73-year-old retiree, who lives just yards from the building but was not injured. The three-decade resident of the neighborhood was cooking and watching television when he heard the blast. “My room has moved from here to there. My neighbor’s window broke, the dishes, everything.” Katerine Marrero, 31, was shopping at the time. “I left the store, I felt the explosion,” she said. “Everyone started running.” While no tourists were injured, the explosion is another blow to the country’s crucial tourism industry.
A worker operates a claw crane to remove debris from the site of the deadly explosion that destroyed the five-star Saratoga hotel in Havana, Cuba, on Friday. (AP)
Even before the coronavirus pandemic kept tourists away from Cuba, the country struggled with tightened sanctions imposed by former US President Donald Trump and kept the Biden administration in place. Those limited visits by US tourists to the islands and limited remittances from Cubans in the US to their families in Cuba.
Tourism started a little early this year, but the war started Ukraine a boom in Russian visitors, which last year accounted for nearly a third of tourists entering Cuba, deflated.
dr. Julio Guerra Izquierdo, head of hospital services at the Ministry of Health, said at least 74 people were injured. Among them were 14 children, according to a tweet from President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s office.
A 300-student school next to the hotel was evacuated. Havana Gov. Reinaldo García Zapata said five of the students suffered minor injuries.
The landmark hotel had beautiful views of central Cuba, including the vaulted Capitol Building about 100 yards away. The Capitol suffered broken glass and damaged masonry from the explosion.
Renovated in 2005 as part of the Cuban government’s revival of Old Havana, the hotel is owned by the tourist arm of the Cuban military, 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 information about the hotel and the renovation it was undergoing.
In the past, Hotel Saratoga has been used by visiting VIPs and political figures, including high-ranking US government delegations. Beyoncé and Jay-Z stayed there in 2013.
García Zapata said buildings adjacent to the hotel were being evaluated, including two heavily damaged apartment buildings. Díaz-Canel said families in affected buildings had been moved to safer locations.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was set to arrive in Havana late on Saturday for a visit, and Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the visit would still take place.
