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Cuba Hotel Saratoga explosion:
At least 8 dead in massive Havana blast


By Ben Feuerherd
May 6, 2022 12:43pm


A powerful explosion rocked a five-star hotel in the center of Havana, Cuba, on
Friday morning, killing at least eight people and sending survivors scrambling for
safety as authorities raced to try to rescue those trapped in the rubble, reports said.

At least 30 other people were injured in the blast, CNN reported, citing a statement
from the Cuban president’s office.

A Twitter account for the Cuban presidency reported a “liquefied gas explosion”
as the possible cause for the deadly incident, but further details were not released,
the Miami Herald reported.



Police and fire rescuers comb through rubble for survivors in the aftermath
of the explosion at Hotel Saratoga in Havana.
Twitter / @ShinjiTheCuban




Rescuers work after the explosion in the Saratoga Hotel in Havana,
on May 6, 2022.
AFP via Getty Images



Onlookers gawk at the rubble of Hotel Saratoga in Havana.
Twitter / @ShinjiTheCuban



Hotel Saratoga is described as a “luxurious neoclassical architecture style” hotel.
Google Street



“Everything indicates that the explosion was caused by an accident,”
the office said in the tweet.

The explosion leveled cars and buses parked in front of the posh Hotel Saratoga in
downtown Havana, CNN reported.

At least three floors and the facade of the 1930s-era hotel were reduced to rubble by
the blast, the news station reported.



A taxi is buried in rubble at the site of the five-star Hotel Saratoga
after a deadly explosion in Old Havana, Cuba, Friday, May 6, 2022.



A sign for the five-star Hotel Saratoga hangs amid the rubble
after it was heavily damaged.
AP



Rooms are exposed after the explosion.
AP



The explosion also leveled cars and buses parked in front of Hotel Saratoga.
AFP via Getty Images




The explosion is being blamed on liquefied natural gas.
REUTERS




Debris is scattered after the explosion.
REUTERS



A student who lives in the city told NBC News that the blast was strong enough to wake him up.

“I was at home and heard a loud noise, and I stood in my balcony and looked in
that direction,” the unidentified student told the news network. “It was a large explosion.
I felt it, I was asleep and it woke me.”

According to its website, the hotel is a “luxurious neoclassical architecture style” hotel
that’s located on the Paseo del Prado in Old Havana.



The facility was refurbished and reopened in 2005.