Deadly massive explosion at Havana hotel

Rooms are seen exposed at the Hotel Saratoga where emergency crews work after a deadly explosion in Havana, Cuba, on Friday, May 6.

Police and fire rescuers are combing through rubble for survivors after an explosion late Friday morning destroyed a hotel in Havana, Cuba, killing at least 22 people and injuring at least 64, according to the Cuban presidency.

Here are key things to know:

What caused the explosion: A gas leak is thought to be the cause of the explosion at Hotel Saratoga, according to the Cuban Presidential Office, who said that more details would follow.

“Everything indicates that the explosion was caused by an accident,” the Cuban Presidential Office said in a tweet.

The victims and rescue efforts: According to preliminary data, a child and a pregnant woman were among those who died, it said. The presidency also said 64 people have been hospitalized for injuries, including 14 minors.

Cuban state TV said there are potential survivors trapped in the basement of the destroyed hotel.

Cuban President President Miguel Diaz-Canel visited the site of the explosion on Friday and Hermanos Ameijeras hospital, where a number of victims were sent to, according to images shared by the Presidential Office on Twitter.

He said the explosion was “not a bomb nor an attack, it’s a regrettable accident,” after returning to the site of the blast.

Hospitals continue to treat all the wounded and rescue activities are still underway, he added.

What the scene was like: Witnesses described a “massive blast,” which appeared to destroy buses and cars outside the hotel in the center of the city. Images from the scene showed the blown-out facade of at least three floors of the ornate green-and-white stuccoed building. Plumes of dust and smoke could be seen rising around debris on the ground.

A CNN team on the ground saw a bloodied woman being carried away at the scene of the explosion. Fireman were using their bare hands to move chunks of broken granite and stone in order to pull people out of the rubble. Pieces of metal awnings, balconies and large chunks of stone were scattered about 300 feet away from the hotel.

The hotel’s significance: The hotel was built at the end of the 19th century and, by the 1930s, it was one of the most important hotels in the city. It has 96 rooms since reopening in 2005 after refurbishment, according to its website. Personalities such as the writer Rafael Alberti have passed through its doors.

At least 22 people are now dead and 64 hospitalized from the explosion at Havana’s Hotel Saratoga on Friday, according to the Cuban presidency.

Cuban state TV said there are potential survivors trapped in the basement of the destroyed hotel.

A member of a rescue team searches for survivors at the site of a deadly explosion that destroyed the Hotel Saratoga, in Havana, Cuba, on Friday, May 6.

At least 18 people have died in the explosion at Havana’s Hotel Saratoga on Friday, according to a tweet from the Cuban presidency.

According to preliminary data, a child and a pregnant woman were among those who died.

The presidency also said 64 people are hospitalized for injuries, including 14 minors.

Rooms are exposed at the Hotel Saratoga after a deadly explosion in Havana, Cuba, on Friday, May 6.

The US Embassy in Havana is closely monitoring reports of the explosion at the Hotel Saratoga, it said in a statement in Spanish.

“Initial reports indicate that it is related to an accidental gas leak,” the embassy said, adding that they would continue to share information with American citizens in the area.

The embassy urged Americans to:

Emergency workers walk amid the rubble outside the Hotel Saratoga after an explosion in Havana on May 6.

An explosion that destroyed the Hotel Saratoga in Havana on Friday was not caused by “a bomb nor an attack,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said.

After returning to the site of the deadly blast following a brief visit to two hospitals treating the victims, Díaz-Canel called the incident a “regrettable accident.” 

Hospitals continue to treat the wounded, and rescue activities are still underway, he added.

The Cuban Presidential Office said earlier on Friday that a gas leak is thought to be the cause of the explosion at Hotel Saratoga.

At least nine people were killed on Friday after a huge explosion destroyed the Hotel Saratoga in Havana, Cuba, according to Cuban state TV.

Earlier Friday, Cuban officials said a gas leak is thought to be the cause of the explosion at Hotel Saratoga.

“Everything indicates that the explosion was caused by an accident,” the Cuban Presidential Office said in a tweet, adding that at least 30 people have been hospitalized after Friday’s blast.

The Hotel Saratoga, which was rocked by an explosion today, is located in the heart of the Cuban capital city of Havana, just a few steps away from the National Capitol building.

The hotel, which was built in the 1930s and has 96 rooms, was reopened in 2005 after refurbishment, according to its website.

Here’s a look at a map of the area:

Here’s the moment when an explosion destroyed Hotel Saratoga in Havana, Cuba.

Watch the video:

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CNN correspondent Patrick Oppmann, who serves as the network’s Havana bureau chief, was on the scene outside the Hotel Saratoga shortly after the explosion occurred.

Cuban officials said a gas leak is thought to be the cause of the blast, and at least 8 people have been reported killed. Officials expect the number to go up as rescuers go through the rubble, Oppmann noted.

The CNN correspondent said he saw heavy smoke in the area as witnesses approached the hotel to see what had occurred. He said the building looked “gutted” from the blast.

Oppmann described Hotel Saratoga as an “iconic hotel” in Havana, noting that celebrities and officials have stayed there.

Watch more from CNN’s report:

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Rescue workers and firefighters work at the scene after an explosion at the Hotel Saratoga in Havana on May 6.

The Hotel Saratoga in Havana — destroyed this Friday after a major explosion — has a long history. The building, located steps from the Capitol, was built at the end of the 19th century and, by the 1930s, it was one of the most important hotels of the city.

The building where the Hotel Saratoga is located, according to the historian Carlos Venegas, had been designed to house warehouses, homes and guest houses. It was ordered to be built by the Spanish merchant Gregorio Palacios around 1879-1880, according to the hotel.

The Hotel Saratoga, which was previously located on the street Monte, was moved to this building on street Prado around 1933.

Cars drive past the Saratoga Hotel in Havana on January 26, 2017.

The hotel’s façade has retained some of the original features. Elements of the building such as bars, wooden lattices, marble stairs and columns show how it was originally, despite the great changes that have occurred inside its doors.

The origin of the hotel’s name has not been verified, the hotel says, but it is possible that it is linked to Saratoga, in the state of New York, where a spa with thermal waters has been a summer place.

“Very close to this location there were important battles in the war for independence of the US,” says the hotel, adding that “perhaps the relationship of its owners with the event could have influenced the selection” of the name.

One of the curiosities highlighted by the hotel, which by 1935 was already listed in tourist guides as one of the most prominent in the Cuban capital, is part of the history of the Anacaonas, which was the first orchestra made up of entirely of women in the country.

The musical shows on the terrace attracted a large number of people to the surroundings of the building in the first part of the 20th century and it was precisely in that corner where the orchestra began.

Personalities such as the writer Rafael Alberti have passed through the Hotel Saratoga, whose visit is framed in a commemorative plaque of the building, which was reopened as a hotel in 2005.

Read more about the hotel in Spanish here.