The death toll from the Havana hotel blast in the centre of Cuba, has risen to 40 and at least 12 people are still missing, officials say.
The latest figure from the Havana hotel blast was revealed to journalists by the Dr. Julio Guerra, chief of hospital services at the Ministry of Health in Cuba. And at the end of the afternoon, the toll was 54 people injured, 18 of whom are still hospitalized, and 40 dead, including four children and adolescents and a Spanish tourist.
Search crews with dogs have been hunting through debris in the hotel in Cuba’s capital.
Among the injured from the Havana hotel blast, six are still in critical condition and seven in serious condition, according to the ministry. In the morning, the emergency services announced that they had removed four bodies from the rubble of the hotel, which then brought the toll to 35 dead.
The search continued on Monday
The four bodies found are those of hotel employees, according to the Cuban state news agency ACN, which said at midday that “12 or 13 people” were still missing.
The search continued Monday at the end of the day, concentrating in the basements of the building, access complicated by the presence of Havana hotel blast rubble.
“It’s a very dangerous stage because of the concentration of debris and the risk of collapse,” Colonel Luis Carlos Guzman, fire chief, told state television.
The luxury hotel, emblematic of central Havana, had been closed for two years due to the pandemic and was preparing to reopen to the public on Tuesday, after renovations.