Solidarity in response to accident in hotel in Havana

Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo, national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), highlighted the solidarity of the Cuban people in the face of the accident that occurred Friday at the Saratoga Hotel in Havana, with a preliminary toll of nine dead.

In declarations Hernandez Nordelo remarked the spontaneous reaction of young and old people, some of them distressed because they could not donate blood to assist those injured in the explosion, caused by a gas leak.

Irina Serra Podio, provincial coordinator of the CDR, described as altruistic and spontaneous the popular response to the call to donate blood for the victims of the accident.

Several points throughout the province have been set up for the collection of blood, among them the Bank in downtown, and the one located in the Calixto Garcia Hospital, both in the neighborhood of Vedado.

On her part, the vice-president of the Union of Cuban Jurists, Yamila González Ferrer, said on this platform that “solidarity does not wait among Cubans.”

“The blood bank located at 23 and 2nd streets is full of persons waiting to donate their blood for the wounded persons”, she wrote.

In statements to the press, the first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) in Havana, Luis Antonio Torres, assured that the cause of the accident was due to an escape of liquid gas and some parts collapsed inside the building.

Those wounded by the strong explosion receive medical attention in hospitals of this capital.

Persons from the neighboring building to the hotel were rescued and carried to safety, the Party leader said.