# Yoandra Suárez López, Female Rescue Worker in Old Havana Building Collapse Rescue Operations, Dies

**Date:** 10/04/2023

The person who died in the collapse of a building in Old Havana, located at Lamparilla Street no. 388 corner of Villegas, was a rescue and salvage technician with the Cuban Fire Department.

"The General Health Directorate of Havana confirmed the death of rescue worker Yoandra Suárez López, 40 years old, due to asphyxia, suffocation and thoracoabdominal compression, caused by the partial collapse of the building located at the intersection of Lamparilla and Villegas streets," reported Granma.

The Cuban woman had been for many years "the only woman graduate in Rescue and Salvage in the country. Since she was 16 years old she was a volunteer firefighter and worked as a professor at the National Fire Department School (ENB), teaching rescue and salvage technique classes."

Suárez López had previously been interviewed by the local press, to whom she had confessed "feeling a special passion for climbing and diving, two high-risk techniques."

Cuban journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso confirmed the news and reported that under the rubble there is a rescue worker and a resident of the building.

Luis Carlos Guzmán Matos, Head of the Cuban Fire Department, told the press that the work within the building is very complex, as it is completely collapsed.

"Efforts continue with canine techniques for locating the bodies," the official detailed, and also noted "that there are forces and resources available to carry out the rescue operations, but it is very dangerous due to the state in which the structure was left."

Granma reports indicated that some of the families affected by the disaster are being sheltered in the homes of relatives and friends.

Alexis Acosta Silva, superintendent of Old Havana, said that students from ESBU René Fraga will be relocated to other educational centers so as not to affect classes, while Jorge Arturo Vilaboy Viñas Secondary School will operate normally.

He also commented that brigades from the Ministry of Construction, along with Secons, are preparing together with MININT forces to remove the rubble to continue the work, and noted that the building housed 13 family units, for a total of 54 people.

Two injured persons were taken to Calixto García hospital, both of whom are out of danger for their lives.

"At the time of this publication, around 5:00 in the morning, one death has been reported and rescue operations continue, despite the rain, to reach two people located inside the building," Granma reported.