• America National mourning in Cuba while the rescue of those trapped in the ruins of the Hotel Saratoga continues

A Spanish tourist has died in the explosion recorded this Friday at the luxury hotel Saratoga in

Havana

(Cuba), while another Spanish tourist has also been seriously injured

,

sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have assured.

The event, in which

at least 22 people have died and another 64 have been injured

, occurred minutes before 5:00 p.m. Spanish time, when

a tanker truck was serving liquefied gas at the Saratoga hotel

.

Inside the hotel there was only a team of employees, who were working on setting up the property for its reopening on May 10, after being

closed for two years due to the pandemic

.

The president of Cuba,

Díaz-Canel

, has thanked the solidarity of several friendly countries in the face of the incident, which has claimed the lives of 22 people, including

a pregnant woman and a child

.

The Cuban Presidency has stressed that the families affected by the damage caused by the explosion have been transferred to "safe places while recovery actions are carried out."

"We are focused on caring for people, the relatives of the deceased and also those who are hospitalized. The work of the health institutions and rescue and rescue teams has been immediate," said the Cuban president.

The incident occurred around 10:50 a.m. (local time) and apparently it would have happened while a

transfer of liquefied gas was being carried out from a truck

, as reported by the Cuban authorities, who have ruled out that it is an attack, as reported by

Cubadebate

.

The children of the school next to the hotel facility,

with more than 390 students,

were evacuated after the explosion and taken to their families.

Among the students there are at least five wounded, according to the Cuban media.

Due to the explosion, at least

23 buildings in the area have been damaged

, including 17 blocks of flats and two of them very structurally damaged.

Regarding the minors injured, three are in critical condition and two are in serious condition, while there are at least

18 adults in serious or critical condition

.

The hotel is located in

Old Havana

, near the Capitol.

The Rescue and Rescue Command of the Fire Department, as well as officials from the Ministry of the Interior, have traveled to the area, according to the

Granma

newspaper .

The five-star

Saratoga hotel

is practically one hundred years old, although its current stage began in December 2005, when it reopened its doors.

It has a total of 96 rooms, as stated on its website.

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