Cuban Ministry of Health Confirms Death of Physicians in Ecuador

The Cuban health professionals were at a building that totally collapsed in the municipality of Pedernales, Manabi. The rest of the medical brigade is in good health

As a result of the earthquake of 7.8 degrees on the Richter scale that shook the coastal area of ​​Esmeralda and Manabi provinces in Ecuador, three Cuban health workers offering their services in that country died, the Cuban Ministry of Public Health informed.

The bodies of Barbara Caridad Cruz Ruiz, 46; Leonardo Ortiz Estrada, 53, and Eric Perez de Alejo Omar Quesada, 41; all specialists in General Comprehensive Medicine and residents of Villa Clara province, were found under the rubble of a building that totally collapsed in the municipality of Pedernales, Manabi.

The official note adds that the bodies are in preservation in order to be transferred to their homeland.

The rest of the medical brigade is in good health, asserts the Ministry of Public Health in its communique, noting that the Cuban workers are working normally and that a group of them participates in recovery efforts in the areas most affected by the earthquake.

A Cuban emergency brigade departed Sunday from Havana to Ecuador to assist victims of the devastating earthquake that took place on Saturday, which so far has claimed the lives of 413 people, as confirmed Prensa Latina quoting the Security Coordination Ministry of the South American nation.

These figures may increase as new bodies are found under the rubble and the specialized staff manages to get to places cut off following the earthquake, as warned by President Rafael Correa, Prensa Latina specified, as well as the number of people injured reported -more than 2,500 up to his moment-, and the assessment of the substantial material damage caused.