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. Cubadebate reported the discovery of another body in the afternoon but the authorities have not yet confirmed the death.
The Ministry of Public Health released in the afternoon the identities of the 26 deceased in a statement with their names, ages and place of residence.
According to the statement, 46 people are hospitalized, including 15 minors. Three children and seven adults are reported in critical condition.
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. The woman was later identified as María López Cerón Uga.
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.
Rescue operations continued in the afternoon. Col. Luis Carlos Guzmán Matos, the fire department chief, said that specialized forces were making a thorough search of the basement.
“We can’t talk about the number of people in the basement,” he said. “What we can say is that the means and human and material resources exist to undertake the work that is being done.”
Previously, local officials had reported that rescue workers had made contact with a woman trapped in the basement.
Local media published images of Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel at the scene of the explosion and meeting relatives of the injured admitted to a city hospital on Saturday afternoon.
“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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