A powerful explosion caused severe damage to a hotel in the Cuban capital on Friday, with officials reporting that at least eight people were killed.

The explosion, which tore large parts of the exterior wall of the Saratoga Hotel, a 19th-century building in Old Havana, was apparently due to a gas leak, according to the Twitter account of President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who went to the site.

It added that at least eight people were killed and that search and rescue efforts are underway to locate potentially trapped individuals. The Communist Party's Granma newspaper reported that local officials reported 13 people missing and 30 others injured.

Reinaldo Garcia Zapata, governor of Havana, said the hotel was undergoing renovation and no tourists were being housed there, according to Granma. Images showed a large part of the hotel's exterior wall flying off, revealing the interior rooms, with thick dust rising into the sky.

A nearby school was evacuated. The police cordoned off the area while firefighters and ambulance crews worked inside.