Updated May 6, 2022 at 1:12 PM ET
HAVANA — A powerful explosion badly damaged a hotel in the Cuban capital on Friday and officials reported several people had died.
The blast at the Hotel Saratoga, a 19th century structure in Old Havana, apparently was due to a gas leak, according to the Twitter account of the office of President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who went to the site.
It quoted Havana's Communist Party chief, Luis Antonio Torres Iríbar, as saying officials had confirmed four deaths.
It said search and rescue efforts were underway for people possible trapped.
Photos published by government news media showed much of the hotel's outer wall blown away, exposing interior rooms, with clouds of dust billowing into the sky.
A school next door had been evacuated.
Police cordoned off the area as firefighters and ambulance crews worked inside.
Mayiee Pérez said she had rushed to the scene after receiving a call from her husband, Daniel Serra, who works at a foreign exchange shop inside the hotel. She said he told her, "I am fine, I am fine. They got us out," but had been unable to reach him since.
Yazira de la Caridad, mother of two, said the explosion shook her home a block from the hotel: "The whole building moved. I thought it was an earthquake," she said. "I've still got my heart in my hand."
The five-star, 96-room hotel in Old Havana has two bars, two restaurants and a rooftop pool, according to its website.
