Witnesses and state media said a deadly explosion hit a famous hotel in downtown Havana on Friday, ripping several floors off the side of the building, killing at least 22 people and injuring more than 70.
Speaking from the scene on Cuban television, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the explosion at the historic, high-end Hotel Saratoga appears to have been caused by a gas leak.
“In no case was it a bomb or an attack,” he later told Reuters as he exited the capital’s Calixto García hospital, where several of the wounded were being treated. ‘It’s just a very unfortunate accident.’
Yet the eruption sent a brief wave of panic through the historic Old Havana neighborhood, which has slowly begun to reopen to tourists after the pandemic hit the vital travel area of the Caribbean island.
Rescuers work at a site after an explosion at the Hotel Saratoga on May 6, 2022 in Havana, Cuba. (Photo: Reuters)
As police cordoned off the area around the hotel, hundreds of Cubans and tourists alike gathered near the property in the hot sun. Many speculated about the cause of the explosion as ambulances and rescue workers pulled victims out of the rubble.
Health officials said the blast caused panic at a nearby school in the presence of more than 300 students. As of late Friday evening, at least 15 children were reported injured and one child had died, the health ministry said.
Cuba’s Tourism Minister Juan Carlos García said no foreigners were killed or injured in the explosion, according to preliminary reports.
The hotel, housed in a more than a century-old building, was closed and workers were only inside at the time of the explosion, state TV reported, citing Roberto Enrique Calzadilla, a representative of the military-run company that operates several . Country Hotels.
The covered body of a victim lies on the street after an explosion at the Hotel Saratoga in Havana, Cuba, on May 6, 2022. (Photo: Reuters)
In a broadcast interview, Calzadilla said the 96-room hotel was scheduled to reopen in the next few days and that staff on site were making final preparations.
He also said that a gas leak also appears to be the reason.
“The workers…were doing repairs and doing all the work to open the property and in the morning they were supplying gas again and it seems that the explosion took place due to some accident,” he said.
The explosion engulfed the building and surrounding streets with plumes of black smoke and dust rising from the rubble.
Police and rescue workers moved quickly to lay siege to some nearby government buildings, including the historic Capitolio or Capital Building.
A photograph from the scene shows what is visible with at least one body covered in white clothing. A block away from the explosion, a man carried a woman screaming in pain to the clinic as onlookers begged for information about their loved ones.
The Neoclassical-style Saratoga Hotel was remodeled by a British company after the collapse of the Soviet Union and for many years was considered a place to stay by visiting government officials and celebrities.
Recently, it lost some of its luster with the opening of new hotels in Havana, but was still a five-star venue.