Cuba explosion: Major blast rips through The Hotel Saratoga in Havana

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At least eight people are dead and many more are injured after a large explosion tore through several floors of a hotel in the Cuban capital of Havana, according to reports.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the explosion at the Saratoga Hotel wasn’t due to a bombing, adding that authorities are investigating the cause. He added that a preliminary investigation suggested that the blast was caused by a gas leak.

Tweeting pictures of the chaos, CNN Havana bureau chief Patrick Oppman wrote that the area around the “iconic hotel” was “a horrible scene of destruction”.

At least three floors of the building are shown to have been blown out in images from the scene, as clouds of dust and smoke rise into the air.

The explosion ripped off the facade as the luxury hotel was partly destroyed. The blast also damaged nearby building in the area, not far from the Cuban capitol in Havana’s Old Town. At least 13 people have been reported missing, according to government officials.

Police and fire personnel are going through the rubble looking for survivors. Buses and cars in the vicinity were also destroyed. Rescue workers arrived at the hotel as officials closed down the area, including nearby buildings.

Rooms are exposed at the five-star Hotel Saratoga where emergency crew work after a deadly explosion in Old Havana, Cuba, Friday, May 6, 2022

(AP)

(Copyright 2022. The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

After being constructed in 1880 to partly be used as a warehouse, the building was rebuilt as a hotel in 1933. According to the hotel’s website, it was reopened in 2005 following subsequent renovations.

“Though we have not been able to verify the origin of its name, it is likely that it stems from the US resort town of Saratoga in the State of New York,” the hotel website states.

“Our solidarity to the victims and those affected as well as the people of that dear fraternal nation,” Mexican foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard wrote on Twitter.

Emergency workers with a stretcher stand amid the rubble outside the five-star Hotel Saratoga after a deadly explosion in Old Havana, Cuba, Friday, May 6, 2022

(AP)

Rooms are exposed at the five-star Hotel Saratoga after a deadly explosion in Old Havana, Cuba, Friday, May 6, 2022

(AP)

Videos and images posted on social media showed an emergency vehicle flocking to the scene where rubble had fallen onto the streets surrounding the hotel.

Mr Diaz-Canel and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero was at the hotel not long after the explosion had occurred.

“Search and rescue work continues at the hotel, where people may still be trapped,” the office of the president said.

The Concepción Arenal School in the area was one of the other buildings that was damaged. A teacher said three students had ben injured, according to The New York Times. She added that the explosion had blown out the windows, sending shards of broken glass flying through the air.

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