Eight dead after major explosion at Cuban hotel
A large explosion has torn through several floors of a hotel in the Cuban capital of Havana.
Authorities say that 18 people, including a pregnant woman and child, were killed in the blast, which is thought to have been caused by a gas leak at The Hotel Saratoga.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel, speaking from the scene of the disaster on Cuban television, said the explosion at the Hotel Saratoga had not been caused by a bomb.
Mr Díaz-Canel says that 50 adults and 14 children were hospitalized after the blast.
Cuban state TV reported that the blast was caused by a truck that had been supplying natural gas to the hotel, but did not elaborate on how the gas ignited.
Witnesses told CNN they heard a “massive blast” that also destroyed cars and buses outside the historic building. Pictures from the scene show at least three floors of the hotel have been destroyed by the explosion.
The building the hotel is now in was constructed in 1880 as warehouses before being converted in 1933 to a hotel. It has 96 rooms and was reopened in 2005 after a refurbishment, according to its website.
