Photo: AFP/VNA/CVN

 

The island of Cuba is in national mourning after the discovery on Thursday, May 12, of the body of the last missing victim in the rubble of a Havana hotel blown up by an accidental explosion, which brings the death toll to 45.

This accident happened in the Saratoga Hotel on May 6, in which 44 compatriots and a Spanish national perished, and after the conclusion of the rescue operations, the President of the Republic of Cuba (Miguel Diaz-Canel) declared national mourning", according to a statement read on television.

The national mourning, which will last 42 hours, starts on Friday 13 May at dawn and will end on Saturday 14 May at midnight. Flags will be flown at half-mast, it said. Shortly before, the colonel Luis Carlos Guzman, chief of the fire department, announced to the press the discovery of the body of the last missing person in the rubble of the hotel, whose several floors were destroyed by an explosion at the time when a tanker was supplying it with gas.

The death toll is now 45, including four children, a pregnant woman and a 29-year-old Spanish tourist. According to the Ministry of Health, the accidental explosion also injured 54 people, 16 of whom remained hospitalized on Thursday 12 May, including four minors. Two of them were still in critical condition.

The hotel "The Saratoga" is very well known, especially for having hosted several celebrities in recent years, including Mick Jagger, Beyoncé and Madonna, had been closed for two years because of the pandemic and was preparing to reopen to the public on May 10, after work. Built-in 1880 to house stores, the building was converted into a hotel in 1933 and became a luxury establishment in 2005