Efforts to find victims trapped by the rubble of the Hotel Saratoga in Havana, which was rocked by a powerful explosion Friday, continued throughout the day Saturday, bringing the death toll to 26.
Among the dead are four children and one pregnant woman, Cuban officials said during a meeting Saturday morning reported by state media. One child was 10, two were 15, and the other 17, state news outlet Cubadebate reported.
The Communist Party newspaper Granma reported that at least 26 people had died in the explosion as of Saturday morning.
The officials said that 45 people remained in the hospitals Saturday, nine in critical condition and six with “serious” injuries.
Cuban authorities have not released the names of the deceased. Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said a Spanish woman was among the dead, and a Spanish man was also injured. The Spanish news agency EFE reported they were tourists walking by the hotel and were hit by the blast.
Local officials have said that preliminary investigations point to a gas leak as the probable cause for the explosion that tore down the building’s facade and severely damaged several floors and nearby buildings. A truck carrying liquefied gas that was refilling the hotel’s gas tanks was recovered from the rubble, a video posted by state media shows.
Granma reported that the search and rescue team managed to get into the hotel’s basement, where they expect to find more trapped victims. Access was difficult because much of the second and third floors collapsed on top of the basement, the newspaper said. A canine unit was also being used to help locate survivors.
“It is very unfortunate what happened, the destruction, above all the loss of life, and also the injured people, but once again, I want to highlight the speed with which the population and the institutions were mobilized,” Cuba’s leader Miguel Díaz-Canel said. “Solidarity has prevailed.”
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