News

Saratoga Hotel Explosion Update: Many people die from apparent gas leak


MEXICO CITY – A powerful explosion rocked central Havana on Friday morning, destroying parts of a luxury hotel and damaging neighboring buildings just meters from the Cuban National Assembly. .

The president’s office said at least 22 people were killed and dozens injured. More was missing. Among the dead were a pregnant woman and a child.

The explosion comes as Cuba is trying to revive tourism, a mainstay of its fragile economy and battered by the pandemic.

Videos and photos shared on social media showed ambulances rushing to the scene and much of the facade of the Saratoga hotel destroyed. Ruins in the streets, and smoke rising into the sky.

Miriam Díaz, 56, a Havana resident, who lived behind the hotel and was on the bus home at the time of the explosion, said: ‘There’s a foul smell, like chemicals, that burns your nose. “We couldn’t go out because the door wasn’t open.”

The hotel, a popular destination for international tourists and celebrities, was under renovation and was not open to guests at the time of the explosion, government officials said.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel arrived at the scene shortly after the explosion, along with Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz. The Cuban president’s office said on Twitter that preliminary investigations indicated the explosion, shortly before 11 a.m., was caused by a gas leak.

Officials said at least 64 people, including 50 adults and 14 children, were first hospitalized as a result of the blast. Many apartments were damaged, and affected residents were moved to a safe location while repairs were carried out.

Díaz-Canel wrote on Twitter: “Today, Havana is in shock after a gas cylinder explosion at the Saratoga hotel caused a large part of the building to collapse. “We extend our deepest condolences and sincere support to the families and friends of the victims.”

The explosion at a popular hotel is thought to be linked to a series of hotel bombings in Havana in the 1990s that involved exiled fighters. But authorities were quick to dismiss any speculation that the explosion was intentional.

“This is not a bombing or an attack,” Díaz-Canel told reporters at the scene. It was “an unfortunate accident.”

The presidential office added that search and rescue efforts were still underway, with people likely still trapped in the rubble. Officials believe the explosion happened just outside the hotel.

“I felt the explosion,” said Pablo Morales, 21, an engineering student who lives just a few blocks from the hotel. “It shook the street. It shakes the ground. It shakes the windows”.

An iconic 19th-century building, Hotel Saratoga reopened in 2005 as a 5-star luxury establishment. According to the Facebook page, the hotel has been closed for two years because of the pandemic and will reopen next week.

Among the damaged buildings was the nearby Concepción Arenal School. A school teacher who did not wish to be named said several students were injured. She said the windows had been blown out, with shards of glass flying a considerable distance.

The local education director told Cuban media that five students were injured in the explosion.

“It was shocking,” said Díaz, whose daughter attended the school but was unharmed by the blast. “It was really difficult.”

State media reported that children were evacuated to the Capitol after the blast, and officials said students would then be able to attend another building starting Monday.

A nearby church was also badly damaged.

“The walls have completely collapsed. Mr. Morales, a parishioner, said. “All the windows, not a single one left – not in the church and not in the Martí Theater in the foreground.”

When rescuers arrived, Mr Morales said he witnessed people being pulled from the rubble. At least three people have died.

“They were destroyed,” he said. “You can see a lot of blood.”

The Cuban Communist Party newspaper, Granma, said on Twitter that the explosion happened “while liquefied gas was believed to be being delivered from a truck”.

The explosion comes as Cuba’s vital tourism sector is beginning to recover from being hit hard during the pandemic. The island nation has been closed to visitors for months, plunging Cuba into one of the worst economic crises in its history.

“This gives people pause as to whether Havana is really ready to reopen,” said Renata Keller, a Cuba expert at the University of Nevada, Reno. Cubans “really need this recovery in tourism and this boom is not going to help”.

The disappearance of tourists has stripped Cuba of a vital source of foreign currency, which is heavily dependent on Cuba, exacerbating the financial challenges posed by the decades-long US embargo.

The economic crisis has set off one of the biggest crises protest movements in Cuban history, with thousands of people taking to the streets in cities across the country. A subsequent government crackdown resulted in convictions dozens of people for crime, including sedation.

The explosion came days after Cuba held an international tourism fair in the nearby resort town of Varadero.

Immediately after the explosion, calls for blood donations went viral on social media to help the victims of the explosion. Photos shared online show Cubans queuing to donate blood at a blood bank in Havana.

Mexico’s Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, said on Friday afternoon that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s upcoming visit to the island would go ahead as planned.

“Our solidarity is with the victims and those affected and with the people of this dear brotherly nation,” Mr. Ebrard said on Twitter.

Originally built in 1880, Saratoga was considered one of the most important hotels in Havana in the 1930s, according to its website. It originally served as a warehouse and tobacco shop, along with several apartments. It was built at a different site before being moved to its current address on Paseo del Prado, an old and famous avenue that cuts through Havana. It was turned into a hotel in the 1930s.

Now owned by the state-run Gaviota tourism group, the hotel has hosted international visitors for decades. Among its notable customers are guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.

Hannah Berkeley Cohen contributed reporting from Columbus, Ohio. Frances Robles contributed reporting from Miami, Fl.



Source link

news7h

News7h: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button
Immediate Peak