The explosion at Hotel Saratoga, claimed lives of 22 people, was caused by a gas leak.

The explosion at a historic Havana hotel has claimed lives of 22 people while injuring around 70.

Speaking from the scene on Cuban television, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the blast at the historic, high-end Hotel Saratoga appeared to have been caused by a gas leak.

“In no case was it a bomb or an attack,” he later told Reuters as he left the capital’s Calixto Garcia hospital, where many of the injured were treated. ‘It’s just a very unfortunate accident.”