The blast occurred Friday morning at 10:50 a.m. local time.
The hotel, located in the old town of Havana, has been completely destroyed, according to a number of Cuban media.
At least 22 people have died, while 50 adults and 14 minors have been sent to hospital, local authorities say. According to the head of the emergency services, Carlos Ricardo Perez Diaz, there are children among the injured.
– MAJOR DESTRUCTIONS: Both the hotel and several nearby buildings were badly damaged after the explosion on Friday. Photo: Alexandre Meneghini / Reuters
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Gas leak
A block of flats located diagonally above the hotel has also been badly damaged, and doors and windows have been destroyed at a school nearby. A small shop that was just below it just a mound of gravel left.
The hotel must have been under repair when the accident happened, according to NTB. This indicates that a gas leak was the cause of the explosion.
“It was not a bomb or an attack, but a terrible accident,” Cuba President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez said in a statement.
Nevertheless, the explosion has spread panic among the population of Havana’s historic district, which has recently begun reopening after the corona pandemic.
UD: Probably no Norwegians affected
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is aware of the explosion, and is now working to find out whether Norwegian citizens may be affected by the incident.
– The embassy in Havana is working to obtain more information about the incident and whether Norwegian travelers have been affected or affected, the Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson, Ragnhild Håland Simenstad, informs TV 2.
Just before 11 pm, Simenstad states that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has so far not received any information indicating that Norwegian citizens have been affected.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that they are aware that there will be a smaller number of Norwegian citizens in Cuba.
– Norwegian citizens are not obliged to inform us about travel and stay abroad, and it is therefore difficult to say how many Norwegians are now staying in Cuba, Simenstad states.
The Norwegian embassy in Cuba refers to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and does not want to give a statement itself.
– SEEKER: Rescue workers are looking for missing people in the ruins. Photo: Adalberto Roque / AFP
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Large crowd on site
Local authorities have taken steps to try to get hundreds of people trying to see what is going on to leave the place. Several who live in the area report that the internet is down.
Witnesses who were at the Plaza Revolución tell 14ymedio that they heard a loud roar, and they could see smoke rising from the hotel, which is located near the capital’s port area.
The University of Agriculture in Havana also reports on the explosion on its Twitter account. They write that the explosion probably happened when liquefied gas was transferred from a truck.
The luxury hotel is located in the Cuban Old Town, and has had celebrity guests such as Beyonce and Jay Z. They stayed at the hotel in 2013 when they celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary.
