New Delhi: At least 18 people, including a pregnant woman and a child, were killed and dozens injured in an explosion at a luxury hotel in central Havana, Cuba. The blast is known to be caused by a gas leak that caused the outer walls of the luxury hotel to blow up, AP reported.
The blast tore off large parts of the facade, blew out windows, and destroyed cars parked outside the hotel, which has hosted celebrities such as Madonna and Beyonce.
According to AP, no tourists were staying at Havana's 96-room Hotel Saratoga because it was undergoing renovation, Havana Governor Reinaldo García Zapata told the Communist Party newspaper Granma.
"It's not a bomb or an attack. It is a tragic accident," President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who visited the site, said in a tweet.
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Díaz-Canel told reporters that 50 adults and 14 children were hospitalised after the blast on Friday, according to AP. Cuban state TV reported that the blast was caused by a truck that had been supplying natural gas to the hotel, but did not provide details on how the gas ignited.
The first four floors of the historic hotel, which was empty as it was being renovated, were destroyed, AFP reported.
Cuba is in a struggle to revive its tourism sector which was destroyed by the coronavirus pandemic. Tourism had started to revive somewhat early this year, but the conflict in Ukraine crimped a boom of Russian visitors, who accounted for almost a third of the tourists arriving in Cuba last year.
The explosion happened as Cuba's government hosted the final day of a tourism convention in the iconic beach town of Varadero aimed at drawing investors.
Cuba's national health minister, José Ángel Portal, told The Associated Press the number of injured could rise as search continues for people who may be trapped in the rubble of the 19th-century structure in the Old Havana neighbourhood of the city.
An elementary school next to the hotel was evacuated. It was not immediately clear if the injured children were students.
Police cordoned off the area as firefighters and rescue workers toiled inside the wreckage of the emblematic hotel about 110 yards (100 metres) from Cuba's Capitol building.
The hotel was first renovated in 2005 as part of the Cuban government's revival of Old Havana and is owned by the Cuban military's tourism business arm, Grupo de Turismo Gaviota SA. The company said it was investigating the cause of the blast and did not immediately respond to an email seeking more details about the hotel and the renovation it was undergoing.
Saratoga Hotel is frequented by VIPs, celebrities and political guests including high-ranking US government delegations. Beyoncé and Jay-Z stayed there during a 2013 visit to Cuba.