Hunt goes on for missing in Cuba blast
HAVANA-- Relatives of the missing searched Saturday for victims of an explosion at one of Havana's most luxurious hotels, the Hotel Saratoga, that killed at least 27 people.
A natural gas leak was the likely cause of Friday's blast at the 96-room hotel, officials said. The 19th-century structure in the Old Havana neighborhood did not have any guests at the time because it was undergoing renovations ahead of a planned Tuesday reopening.
But the area in front of hotel was busy at the time of the late-morning explosion that blasted the streets with concrete debris.
On Saturday evening, Dr. Julio Guerra Izquierdo, chief of hospital services at the Ministry of Health, raised the death toll to 27 with 81 people injured. The dead included four children and a pregnant woman. Spain's President Pedro Sanchez said via Twitter that a Spanish tourist was among the dead and that another Spaniard was seriously injured.
Cuban authorities confirmed the tourist's death and said her partner was injured. Dalila Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for the Tourism Ministry, said a Cuban American tourist was also injured.
Representatives of Grupo de Turismo Gaviota SA, which owns the hotel, said Saturday that 51 workers had been inside the hotel at the time, as well as two people working on renovations. Of those, 11 were killed, 13 remained missing and six were hospitalized.
Gonzalez said the cause of the blast was still under investigation, but a large crane hoisted a charred gas tanker from the hotel's rubble early Saturday.
11 Egyptian troops killed in Sinai attack
CAIRO -- At least 11 Egyptian troops, including an officer, were killed Saturday in a militant attack on a water pumping station east of the Suez Canal, the military said.
In a statement, it said at least five other troops were wounded in the attack, one of the deadliest against Egyptian security forces in recent years. Troops thwarted the attacks and were pursuing militants in an isolated area of the northern Sinai Peninsula, the statement added. It gave no further details or the attack's precise location.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi mourned the death of the troops, vowing in a Facebook post to the continue fighting the militants and "uprooting terrorism."
Two Northern Sinai residents said the attack took place in the town of Qantara in the province of Ismailia, which stretches eastward from the Suez Canal.
The militants ambushed troops guarding the pumping facility, before fleeing to the desert in Northern Sinai, according to the residents.
No group claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack.
Yemen fighting leaves 12 people dead
SANAA, Yemen -- Clashes at a militia facility in southern Yemen after the arrest of a group of suspected al-Qaida militants killed at least a dozen people, including two force commanders, officials said.
The officials said the fighting took place late Friday at the headquarters of the so-called Security Belt force in Dhale province. The Security Belt is a militia trained and funded by the United Arab Emirates and loyal to the secessionist Southern Transitional Council. The force is active in Yemen's southern provinces.
The militia reported that Col. Waleed al-Dhami, deputy commander of the Security Belt, and Col. Mohamed al-Shoubagi, commander of the government's counterterrorism unit in Dhale, were killed.
The security officials said the nearly hourlong firefight broke out when troops asked the militants to hand over their weapons. The militants refused and opened fire at the troops, according to the officials.
Eight militants and four security forces were killed in the fighting, including the two commanders, they said. There were a number of wounded troops who were taken to a hospital, the officials added.
3 U.S. tourists fall ill in Bahamas, die
MEXICO CITY -- Three U.S. tourists have died at a resort in the Bahamas after falling ill, officials of the Atlantic island nation confirmed, and another was airlifted to a hospital for treatment.
Acting Prime Minister Chester Cooper issued a statement Friday saying police are investigating and the cause of death was unknown, though foul play "is not suspected."
Their identities were not initially made public.
The health minister, Dr. Michael Darville, told Eyewitness News Bahamas on Saturday that some hotel guests went to a clinic Thursday having thrown up and experienced nausea, were treated and left. Three were later found dead. A fourth was flown to a hospital in New Providence.
He said the environmental health scientists, physicians and others were investigating to ensure there was not a public health hazard.
"We feel that what we are seeing is an isolated case associated in a particular area," he said, adding that investigators are doing toxicology and blood tests to help determine the cause of the illness.
The head of communications for the prime minister's office, Latrae L. Rahming, tweeted that the deaths occurred at Sandals Emerald Bay in Exuma.
Rescue teams remove debris from the site of Friday's deadly explosion that destroyed the five-star Hotel Saratoga, in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, May 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Relatives keep vigil at the site of Friday's deadly explosion that destroyed the five-star Hotel Saratoga as rescuers search for survivors, in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, May 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A lighting fixture hangs from a ceiling at the site of Friday's deadly explosion that destroyed the five-star Hotel Saratoga, in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, May 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Workers remove debris from the site of Friday's deadly explosion that destroyed the five-star Hotel Saratoga, in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, May 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A member of the Red Cross walks over rubble at the site of a deadly explosion that destroyed the five-star Hotel Saratoga, in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, May 7, 2022. A natural gas leak was the apparent cause of Friday's blast at the 96-room hotel that killed at least 26 people and injured dozens. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Workers remove debris from the site of Friday's deadly explosion that destroyed the five-star Hotel Saratoga, in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, May 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Workers remove debris from the site of Friday's deadly explosion that destroyed the five-star Hotel Saratoga, in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, May 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)Gallery: Deadly blast at Cuban hotel, day 2
