An explosion ravaged a luxury hotel in central Havana, Cuba, Friday morning, killing at least eight people, with 30 people hospitalized, CNN confirms.
Searches are currently underway to find others who could be caught under the rubble.
“Preliminary investigations indicate that the explosion was caused by a gas leak,” according to the office of the Cuban presidency on Twitter, per The New York Times.
El Primer Secretario del Partido en La Habana, Luis Antonio Torres Iríbar, explica que hasta el momento se ha podido confirmar la muerte de 4 personas.
— Presidencia Cuba 🇨🇺 (@PresidenciaCuba) May 6, 2022
Continúan los trabajos de búsqueda y rescate en el hotel, donde todavía es posible que haya personas atrapadas.
The explosion damaged other buildings nearby, including a school “with some children reportedly injured by the blast,” according to The New York Times.
Hotel Saratoga is a five-star hotel in the heart of historic Havana.
Yazira de la Caridad, a woman who lives a block away from the blast, told USA Today, “The whole building moved. I thought it was an earthquake.”
This story is developing.