Relatives of the missing in Cuba's capital are desperately searching for victims of an explosion at one of Havana's most luxurious hotels that killed at least 26 people.
They check the morgue, hospitals and if unsuccessful, they return to the partially collapsed Hotel Saratoga, where rescuers are using dogs to hunt for survivors.
A natural gas leak was the apparent cause of Friday's blast at the 96-room hotel.
The 19th-century structure in the Old Havana neighbourhood did not have any guests at the time because it was undergoing renovations ahead of a planned Tuesday reopening after being closed for two years during the pandemic.
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. Spain's President Pedro Sánchez said via Twitter that a Spanish tourist was among the dead and that another Spaniard was seriously injured.
Cuban authorities confirmed the tourist's death and said her partner was injured. They were not staying at the hotel. Tourism Minister Dalila González said a Cuban-American tourist was also injured.
Representatives of Grupo de Turismo Gaviota SA, which owns the hotel, said during a news conference Saturday that 51 workers had been inside the hotel at the time, as well as two people working on renovations. Of those, 11 were killed, 13 remained missing and six were hospitalised.
Mr González said the cause of the blast was still under investigation, but a large crane hoisted a charred gas tanker from the hotel's rubble early on Saturday.
Red Cross and rescue teams wait to enter the site of a deadly explosion that destroyed the five-star Hotel Saratoga, in Havana, Cuba, Friday, 6 May, 2022. Source: AP / Ramon Espinosa
At least one survivor was found early Saturday in the shattered ruins, and rescuers using search dogs clambered over huge chunks of concrete looking for more. Relatives of missing people remained at the site while others gathered at hospitals where the injured were being treated.
A desperate Yatmara Cobas stood outside the perimeter waiting for word of her daughter, 27-year-old housekeeper Shaidis Cobas.
"My daughter is in the Saratoga; she's been there since 8am (local time on Friday), and at this time I don't know anything about her," Ms Cobas said. "She's not at the morgue, she's not in the hospital." The mother said she had gone everywhere seeking answers from authorities, but coming up empty.
"I'm tired of the lies," she said.
Lieutenant Colonel Enrique Peña briefed Comandante Ramiro Valdés, who fought alongside Fidel Castro, on the search efforts at the site Saturday morning.
Mr Peña said the presence of people had been detected on the first floor and in the basement and four teams of search dogs and handlers were working. He did not know if the victims were alive or dead.
"I don't want to move from here," Cristina Avellar told The Associated Press near the hotel.
Ms Avellar was waiting for news of Odalys Barrera, a 57-year-old cashier who has worked at the hotel for five years. She is the godmother of Ms Barrera's daughters and considers her like a sister.
Neighbours 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 metres from the building, but was not injured. The three-decade resident of the neighbourhood was cooking and watching television when he heard the blast. "My room moved from here to there. My neighbour's window broke, the plates, everything."
Dr Julio Guerra Izquierdo, chief of hospital services at the Ministry of Health, said at least 74 people had been injured. Among them were 14 children, according to a tweet from the office of President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Share
