With the help of Mexico and Venezuela, Cuban specialists and firefighters sought Sunday to put out the massive fire that broke out at a fuel storage base in the western province of Matanzas on Friday.
So far one person has died, 121 had to be treated for injuries and a group of 17 firefighters is missing at the scene. The deceased was identified as Juan Carlos Santana, 60 years old. It is unclear if he counts among the 17 missing.
The incident occurred on Friday night when lightning struck a fuel tank that had 50% of its filling capacity —52,000 cubic meters— of domestically produced crude oil. The flames could not be contained and spread early Saturday morning to another of these containers, causing explosions.
Located about 100 kilometers east of Havana, Matanzas has about 140,000 inhabitants.
On Sunday, Provincial Governor Mario Sabines indicated that 4,946 people had been evacuated, especially from a neighboring district called Dubrocq.
Specialized firefighting forces began arriving with their equipment from Mexico and Venezuela, which sent planes and helicopters on Saturday night.
“The support (is) in risk prevention and also help to put out the fire by means of water-based cooling and foam,” Mexican Brigadier General Juan Bravo said upon arrival. “We hope that more support will arrive soon, such as chemical material.”
The disaster at the Matanzas Supertanker Base occurred at a time when Cuba is going through a severe economic and energy crisis, with frequent blackouts that make the population even more tense with a torrid summer. The amount of fuel that was lost in the accident, which was going to be destined for the thermoelectric plants to generate current, is unknown.
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