Nine dead in blast at Havana hotel

The damaged five-star Hotel Saratoga (Ramon Espinosa/AP)

A powerful explosion apparently caused by a natural gas leak killed at least nine people and injured 40 on Friday, when it blew away outer walls from a luxury hotel in the heart of Cuba’s capital.

No tourists were staying at the 96-room Hotel Saratoga because it was undergoing renovations, Havana governor Reinaldo Garcia Zapata told the Communist Party newspaper Granma.