Death toll rises to 26 in Havana hotel blast
Havana, May 8 : The death toll in the blast in a hotel in Cuba’s capital Havana rose to 26, Khaleej Times reported on Sunday. Rescuers who combed through the rubble said that they did not find any survivors in the upper floors of the prestigious Saratoga Hotel and said that they were now concentrating their efforts on the jumbled debris filling the two-level basement of the neoclassical building. Authorities said that so far they had hospitalised 46 people injured in the blast. The hotel which was to be inaugurated soon had been closed for business as it was undergoing renovation work, and many of the victims of Friday’s explosion were either construction workers or hotel employees preparing for its reopening. One of the deceased a 29-years-old Spanish tourist who had been walking nearby was killed in the blast. So far, 11 hotel employees have been identified among the dead, said Roberto Enriquez Calzadilla, a spokesman for the state-run tourism group Gaviota, which operates the hotel. According to him the explosion took place while a gas tank was being refilled by a tanker truck. Officials said the dead included four children and adolescents. More than a dozen of those hospitalized were listed in critical or serious condition. The dome of a nearby Baptist church also collapsed.
