A powerful explosion apparently caused by a natural gas leak killed at least 22 people, including a child, and injured dozens on Friday when it blew away outer walls from a luxury hotel in the heart of Cuba’s capital.
No tourists were staying at Havana’s 96-room Hotel Saratoga, because it was undergoing renovations, Havana Governor Reinaldo Garcia Zapata told the Communist Party of Cuba newspaper Granma.
“It’s not a bomb or an attack. It is a tragic accident,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who visited the site, said in a Twitter post.
Photo: Reuters
Julio Guerra Izquierdo, chief of hospital services at the Cuban Ministry of Health, told reporters that at least 74 people had been injured.
Among them were 14 children, Diaz-Canel’s office said on Twitter.
Diaz-Canel said families in buildings near the hotel affected by the explosion had been transferred to safer locations.
Cuban state TV reported the explosion was caused by a truck that had been supplying natural gas to the hotel, but did not provide details on how the gas ignited. A white tanker truck was seen being removed from the site as rescue workers hosed it down with water.
The blast sent smoke billowing into the air around the hotel, with people on the street staring in awe and vehicles honking their horns as they sped away from the scene, video showed.
It happened as Cuba is struggling to revive its key tourism sector that was devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cuban Minister of Health Jose Angel Portal told reporters that the number of injured could rise as the search continues for people who might be trapped in the rubble of the 19th-century structure in the Old Havana neighborhood of the city.
“We are still looking for a large group of people who may be under the rubble,” Lieutenant Colonel Noel Silva of the Fire Department said.
A 300-student school next to the hotel was evacuated. Garcia said five of the students suffered minor injuries.
Police cordoned off the area as firefighters and rescue workers toiled inside the wreckage of the emblematic hotel about 100m from Cuba’s Capitol building.
The hotel was first renovated in 2005 as part of the Cuban government’s revival of Old Havana and is owned by the Cuban military’s tourism business arm, Grupo de Turismo Gaviota SA.
The company said it was investigating the cause of the blast and did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking more details about the hotel and the renovation it was undergoing.
The explosion happened as Cuba’s government hosted the final day of a tourism convention in the iconic beach town of Varadero aimed at drawing investors.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was scheduled to arrive in Havana for a visit late yesterday and Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said the visit would still take place.
REBUILDING: A researcher said that it might seem counterintuitive to start talking about reconstruction amid the war with Russia, but it is ‘actually an urgent priority’ Italy is hosting the fourth annual conference on rebuilding Ukraine even as Russia escalates its war, inviting political and business leaders to Rome to promote public-private partnerships on defense, mining, energy and other projects as uncertainty grows about the US’ commitment to Kyiv’s defense. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were opening the meeting yesterday, which gets under way as Russia accelerated its aerial and ground attacks against Ukraine with another night of pounding missile and drone attacks on Kyiv. Italian organizers said that 100 official delegations were attending, as were 40 international organizations and development banks. There are
TARIFF ACTION: The US embassy said that the ‘political persecution’ against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro disrespects the democratic traditions of the nation The US and Brazil on Wednesday escalated their row over US President Donald Trump’s support for former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, with Washington slapping a 50 percent tariff on one of its main steel suppliers. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva threatened to reciprocate. Trump has criticized the prosecution of Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly plotting to cling on to power after losing 2022 elections to Lula. Brasilia on Wednesday summoned Washington’s top envoy to the country to explain an embassy statement describing Bolsonaro as a victim of “political persecution” — echoing Trump’s description of the treatment of Bolsonaro as
The tale of a middle-aged Chinese man, or “uncle,” who disguised himself as a woman to secretly film and share videos of his hookups with more than 1,000 men shook China’s social media, spurring fears for public health, privacy and marital fidelity. The hashtag “red uncle” was the top trending item on China’s popular microblog Sina Weibo yesterday, drawing at least 200 million views as users expressed incredulity and shock. The online posts told of how the man in the eastern city of Nanjing had lured 1,691 heterosexual men into sexual encounters at his home that he then recorded and distributed online. The
Hundreds of protesters marched through the Mexican capital on Friday denouncing gentrification caused by foreigners, with some vandalizing businesses and shouting “gringos out!” The demonstration in the capital’s central area turned violent when hooded individuals smashed windows, damaged restaurant furniture and looted a clothing store. Mexico City Government Secretary Cesar Cravioto said 15 businesses and public facilities were damaged in what he called “xenophobic expressions” similar to what Mexican migrants have suffered in other countries. “We are a city of open arms... there are always ways to negotiate, to sit at the table,” Cravioto told Milenio television. Neighborhoods like Roma-Condesa
RSS