luxury hotel
At least 27 dead after explosion in Havana – difficult salvage work
STORY: A popular downtown Havana hotel lies in ruins. An explosion had devastated several floors on Friday. At least 22 people are said to have died, according to state television. More than 70 were injured, it said on Saturday. “A big explosion. We saved three people but there are still missing,” said this passerby. President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who spoke on Cuban television from the scene, said the explosion at the Hotel Saratoga was not caused by a bomb, adding that a gas leak was the most likely cause. Remodeled by a British company after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the neoclassical-style hotel was for many years the go-to place for government officials and celebrities. According to his Facebook page, the post-pandemic home was scheduled to reopen next week.
The Saratoga was considered one of the best hotels in Cuba and should reopen in a few days. But then a heavy explosion devastates the hotel in Havana. At least 27 people die.
A dusty wound yawns in the heart of Havana: At least 27 people died and dozens more were injured in a serious explosion in a currently closed luxury hotel in the center of the Cuban capital. Among the dead were four minors and a pregnant woman, the newspaper “Tribuna de La Habana” reported on Saturday. A Spaniard died in the explosion and her husband was seriously injured.
Salvage operations were difficult because of the large amount of debris, Old Havana Mayor Alexis Acosta said on television. On Sunday morning, the emergency services got to the place where the offices and storage rooms were located. “We’re searching the inside of the hotel where we suspect more dead people,” said the First Secretary of the Communist Party in Havana, Luis Torres Iríbar. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel thanked the emergency services. “You are our heroes in these terrible hours,” he wrote on Twitter. “Solidarity prevailed.”
The number of victims could increase further. At the time of the accident, 53 workers were in the hotel, a spokesman for Gaviota said on Saturday. The company belongs to the Cuban Armed Forces and is mainly active in the tourism sector. Eleven workers were among the dead, but 13 more were still missing.
Parts of the luxury hotel in Havana are completely devastated
On Friday, the powerful explosion had largely destroyed the Hotel Saratoga in Havana’s old town. According to initial findings, a gas tank had exploded. A witness reported that the hotel was being supplied with liquid gas at the moment of the explosion, reported “Granma”, the newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba. Pictures showed a tank truck being pulled out of the rubble. President Díaz-Canel announced investigations and security checks at other hotels to avoid such accidents in the future.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the well-known five-star hotel, a few steps from the Capitol, has been closed for about two years. It should be reopened next Tuesday. The lower three floors of the neoclassical building were completely devastated, as can be seen in pictures. The force of the explosion tore the facade away, and the destroyed rooms could be seen from the street.
Nearby elementary school was evacuated
Neighboring buildings and several vehicles were also damaged by the blast, apparently including a church and the important Martí Theatre. According to the government, a nearby elementary school was also damaged and evacuated. Residents of affected houses were brought to safety. The structural safety of the hotel and surrounding buildings are being examined. Díaz-Canel praised on Twitter that many young Havana residents immediately donated blood for the injured.
In the 1930s, the Saratoga was housed in a late 19th-century building. With its marble staircase and ornate columns and pilasters, it was one of the most luxurious in the city at the time, according to the Havana Heritage Authority. The concerts by Cuban orchestras on the magnificent terrace were legendary.
On its website, the 96-room hotel boasted, among other things, the “spectacular rooftop swimming pool with panoramic views of the Cuban capital.” Stars like Madonna or Beyoncé as well as numerous foreign state guests have stayed in the house, which was last renovated in 2005, according to local media.
Tourism Minister Juan Carlos García Granda said according to “Granma” that he does not expect that there will be any negative effects on the industry. However, the explosion hit the country just as it was trying to recover from the effects of the corona pandemic. A travel fair has just taken place in the seaside resort of Varadero.
Tourism is one of the most important sources of income for the socialist island state. Before the pandemic, around half a million of the approximately eleven million Cubans worked in the state tourism industry, which accounted for around ten percent of gross domestic product in 2020. Tourism in Cuba had already experienced a decline in 2019, partly due to tightened US sanctions.