Death toll climbs in Cuban hotel blast
Search crews with dogs on Sunday hunted through the ruins of a luxury hotel in Cuba’s capital for survivors of a devastating explosion while officials raised the number of known dead to 30.
The Hotel Saratoga, a five-star 96-room hotel in Old Havana, was preparing to reopen after being closed for two years when an apparent gas leak ignited, blowing the outer walls into the busy, mid-morning streets just a block from the country’s Capitol building last Friday.
Cuban officials on Sunday raised the known death toll to 30 from 27, even as crews continued to search for victims buried beneath piles of shattered concrete. Several nearby structures also were damaged, including the historic Calvary Baptist Church, headquarters for the denomination in western Cuba.
The church said on its Facebook page that the building suffered “significant structural damage, with several collapsed or cracked walls and columns (and) the ceiling partially collapsed,” though no church workers were hurt.