Powerful blast at Havana hotel kills at least 18 people, injures dozens

A powerful explosion apparently caused by a natural gas leak Friday killed at least 18 people and injured dozens when it blew away outer walls from a luxury hotel in the heart of Cuba's capital.

No tourists were staying at the 96-room Hotel Saratoga because it was undergoing renovations, Havana Governor Reinaldo García Zapata told the Communist Party newspaper Granma.

Emergency crews work at the site of a deadly explosion at the five-star Hotel Saratoga in Old Havana. Photo / AP

"It has not been a bomb or an attack. It is a tragic accident," President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who visited the site, said in a tweet. The blast happened as Cuba is struggling to revive its key tourism sector that was devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Cuba's national health minister, José Ángel Portal, told The Associated Press that hospitals had received about 40 injured people, but estimated that the number could rise as the search continues for people who may be trapped between the debris of the 19th century structure in the Old Havana neighbourhood of the city.

Granma reported that local officials said 13 people were missing. An elementary school next to the hotel was evacuated and local news media said no children were hurt.

Police cordoned off the area as firefighters and rescue workers toiled inside the wreckage of the hotel, which is about 100m from Cuba's Capitol building. The hotel has been used frequently by visiting VIPs and political figures.

Photographer Michel Figueroa said he was walking past the hotel when "the explosion threw me to the ground, and my head still hurts.... Everything was very fast."

Water is sprayed behind emergency workers at the site of the five-star Hotel Saratoga. Photo / AP

Emergency workers walk amid the rubble outside the five-star Hotel Saratoga. Photo / AP

Yazira de la Caridad said the explosion shook her home a block from the hotel: "The whole building moved. I thought it was an earthquake."

"I've still got my heart in my hand," she said.

Mayiee Pérez said she rushed to the hotel 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 she was unable to reach him after that.