Czech ambassador missing in blast

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- The Czech Republic's ambassador to Pakistan has been missing since a deadly blast Saturday night at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, the Czech News Agency reported.

A view of the site of the massive truck bombing at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Sunday

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Ivo Zdarek, 47, moved from Vietnam to Pakistan a month ago and was staying at the hotel, the national news agency said. It attributed its information to officials at the Czech foreign ministry.
He is married with two sons, according to the Web site of the Czech Embassy in Hanoi, where he was most recently posted.
The Czech Embassy would not confirm the report to CNN on Sunday.
The suicide truck bombing shook the heart of the capital city, killing dozens and wounding at least 200. It occurred at about 7:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. ET), after the breaking of the fast during the holy month of Ramadan and the address by newly elected President Asif Zardari to a joint session of Parliament. Watch a witness describe walking over bodies »
The Western hotel is located near the diplomatic section of the city near the compound that contains the parliament building, the prime minister's house, the Supreme Court and the presidency. The hotel is popular among tourists and was packed on Saturday night.
The Marriott, where a standard room costs more than $300 per night, has been the site of attacks in the past. Any vehicle entering the facility is searched and its underside checked for bombs before being allowed to pass through heavy steel gates. See where the attack occurred »
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Authorities received a threat two days ago, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said. "We had taken all security measures," he said. "There was heavy security in the city."
Among the dead were two foreigners, Pakistan's Information Secretary told the Associated Press of Pakistan, which reported another 21 foreigners were wounded. Watch the scene of the blast »
Initial casualty figures on the bombing were unclear and sometimes conflicting.
Police and government spokesman Farhatullah Babar said at least 40 people were dead, while Information Ministry spokesman Akram Shaheedi told APP Sunday that the death toll stood at 37, with 236 injured. Watch bombing victims rushed into hospital »
GEO TV's Hamid Mir, who was at the blast site, said he saw at least 52 bodies.
A spokesman for the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr. Wasim Khawaja, said the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad confirmed to him that an American was among the dead, and another was wounded.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman said all U.S. diplomats had been accounted for.
The British High Commission in Islamabad said four British nationals were being treated for wounds suffered in the blast. Two dependents of staff members were treated and released.
A spokeswoman for the German Foreign Ministry said that six Germans in the hotel were slightly hurt in the attack and that all embassy personnel were accounted for.
Most of the dead appeared to be drivers, who were waiting with their cars outside the Marriott, and hotel staff, most of them security guards, Geo TV's Mir said.
Mir said a witness reported seeing a small car ram open the hotel gates and then a truck carrying explosives, which detonated. "They were able to come right up to the hotel, close to the seat of power," Mir reported.
Initial reports indicated that an attacker or attackers drove a small truck with explosives through the hotel gate, Babar said. Police had earlier said it was a car bombing.
The hotel manager offered a different story, telling reporters the blast occurred outside the hotel's gates.
The explosion felled trees, and video showed a deep crater in the pavement where the bomb presumably detonated. More than a dozen cars were reduced to twisted steel.
CNN's Reza Sayah was inside a building more than two miles from the hotel when he felt the blast.
"It was a roaring rumble that would not stop. Seconds later, the windows shattered."
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Journalist Tomas Etzler contributed to this report.
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Bombing Is Marriott's Biggest Loss In 81 Years

A bomber killed more than a dozen people in 2003 at the firm's JW Marriott in Jakarta. A hotel was destroyed in the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, leaving two employees dead. And in January 2007, a suicide bomber detonated a device outside the Marriott in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing a security guard who thwarted his entry to the hotel.

But when terrorists returned yesterday to the Marriott in Islamabad, setting off a truck bomb that killed at least 60 people, they dealt the Bethesda, Md., firm its worst loss of life and property in its 81-year history. Employees and guests drenched in blood streamed into city streets. The building's simple red Marriott logo was shown going up in flames on cable television. Chief executive Bill Marriott said in a blog post yesterday evening that many of those killed were employees.

Marriott was alerted to the explosion within minutes by Kathleen Matthews, the company's executive vice president for global communications. On Marriott's blog, he said: "This senseless tragedy and the profound loss of life has left me greatly saddened. My heart goes out to those who've been injured and the families of the victims."

The attack, which destroyed the 290-room hotel, was a nightmare come true for the 76-year-old chief executive, who developed the company into one of the world's largest hotel chains. Marriott's son John, a former executive at the company, was once asked what kept his father up at night. He quickly answered, "Terrorism."

Company executives were making plans yesterday to quickly get to Pakistan. A team of senior executives, led by Ed Fuller, the president of international lodging, convened at headquarters and electronically from around the world to assess information from the scene and begin offering assistance to victims. A telephone hotline was activated so that victims' families could seek information. Marriott said on his blog that employees who were not seriously injured "are doing whatever they can to assist with rescue and recovery efforts."

The hotel, which opened in 1992 and is known for its tight security, has a fortified gate where vehicles are inspected and metal detectors at the entrance.

The attack comes at a tense time for the company, which like other hotel chains is struggling in the economic slowdown. Marriott's business has dropped off considerably, and an investment in the company made a year ago would be worth 36 percent less today. Marriott recently reduced weekend room rates by 20 percent.

Marriott executives have also been considering whether to open a hotel in Baghdad at the request of U.S. and Iraqi government officials hoping to revive Iraq with foreign investment and economic activity. Bill Marriott has not spoken publicly about the idea, but people close to him have said he is concerned about safety issues