By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ
HAVANA (AP) — A robust explosion apparently brought on by a pure fuel leak Friday killed eight individuals and injured at the least 40 when it blew away outer partitions from a five-star lodge within the coronary heart of Cuba’s capital.
No vacationers have been staying on the 96-room Hotel Saratoga as a result of it was present process renovations, Havana Gov. Reinaldo García Zapata instructed the Communist Party newspaper Granma.
“It has not been a bomb or an attack. It is a tragic accident,” President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who visited the location, mentioned in a tweet. The blast occurred as Cuba is struggling to revive its key tourism sector that was devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Cuba’s nationwide well being minister, José Ángel Portal, instructed The Associated Press that hospitals had acquired about 40 injured individuals, however estimated that the quantity may rise because the search continues for individuals who could also be trapped between the particles of the nineteenth century construction within the Old Havana neighborhood of the town.
Granma reported that native officers mentioned 13 individuals have been lacking. An elementary college subsequent to the lodge was evacuated and native information media mentioned no youngsters have been damage.
Police cordoned off the realm as firefighters and rescue staff toiled contained in the wreckage of the lodge, which is about 110 yards (100 meters) from Cuba’s Capitol constructing. The lodge has been used regularly by visiting VIPs and political figures.
Photographer Michel Figueroa mentioned he was strolling previous the lodge when “the explosion threw me to the ground, and my head still hurts…. Everything was very fast.”
Yazira de la Caridad mentioned the explosion shook her residence a block from the lodge: “The whole building moved. I thought it was an earthquake.”
“I’ve still got my heart in my hand,” she mentioned.
Mayiee Pérez mentioned she rushed to the lodge after receiving a name from her husband, Daniel Serra, who works at a overseas trade store contained in the lodge.
She mentioned he instructed her: “I am fine, I am fine. They got us out.” But she was unable to succeed in him after that.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”