Cuba reports some 40 deaths after the explosion at the Saratoga hotel caused by a gas leak on May 6, local press reported today.

  Cuba reports some 40 deaths after the explosion at the Saratoga hotel caused by a gas leak on May 6, local press reported today.

According to information from Cuban television journalists, the figure was reached after rescuers and firefighters of the country found the lifeless bodies of six people in the last hours.

The search for missing persons continues in the hotel and the adjoining building, said Colonel Luis Carlos Guzmán, head of the Fire Department.

According to the officer, the basement of the Saratoga Hotel is completely collapsed and rescuers have only reached 30 to 40 percent of it. "But it is a work in which we cannot despair, and in which we have to take extreme security measures, due to the high risk that this activity is developing", he commented to the magazine Juventud Técnica.

The colonel assured that the work of removing debris and rescuing victims is being carried out with extreme caution but without interruptions, and will not be concluded until the last person who could remain trapped is found.