A fire sparked by lightning at an oil storage facility raged out of control Saturday in the city of Matanzas, where four explosions and flames injured nearly 80 people and left 17 firefighters missing, officials said Saturday. Cuban authorities.
Firefighters and other specialists were still trying to put out the fire at the Matanzas supertanker base, which started during a thunderstorm on Friday night, the Ministry of Energy and Mines tweeted. The government later said it had sought help from international experts from “friendly countries” with experience in the oil sector.
Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossio said the US government had offered technical assistance to put out the fire. On his Twitter account, he said that the “proposal is in the hands of specialists for proper coordination”.
Minutes later, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel thanked Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Nicaragua, Argentina and Chile for their offers of aid.
Cuba’s Official News Agency said lightning struck one tank, starting a fire, and the fire later spread to a second tank. As military helicopters flew overhead, dropping water on the blaze, a thick plume of black smoke billowed from the facility and spread westward more than 100 kilometers toward Havana.
Workers watch a huge plume of smoke rise from the Matanzas supertanker base in Cuba on Saturday as firefighters work to put out a fire that started during a storm on Friday night. (Ramon Espinosa/The Associated Press)
Roberto de la Torre, head of fire operations in Matanzas, said firefighters were spraying water on the intact tanks in an attempt to keep them cool in hopes of preventing the fire from spreading.
The Facebook page of the Matanzas provincial government said the number of injured had reached 77, while 17 people were missing. The Presidency of the Republic said the 17 were “firefighters who were in the nearest area trying to prevent the spread”.
Seven of the injured were taken to the Calixto García Hospital in Havana, which has an outstanding burns unit.
Cuban authorities say dozens of people have been injured after a lightning strike, fire and subsequent explosions at an oil storage facility in Matanzas. (Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images)
The crash comes as Cuba struggles with fuel shortages. There was no immediate word on how much oil had burned or was in danger at the storage facility, which has eight giant tanks that hold oil used to power power plants.
Column of smoke and sulfur smell
“I was in the gym when I heard the first explosion. A column of smoke and a terrible fire shot up into the sky,” resident Adiel Gonzalez told The Associated Press by phone.
“The city smells strongly of sulphur.”
A man is seen pushing his bicycle down a street in Matanzas, Cuba on Saturday as smoke billows from a fire at a nearby oil tank. (Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images)
Authorities said about 800 people were evacuated from the Dubrocq neighborhood closest to the fire, while Gonzalez added that some people decided to leave the Versailles neighborhood, which is a little further from the tank farm.
Many ambulances, police and firefighters were seen on the streets of Matanzas, a city of about 140,000 people on Matanzas Bay.
Smoke from the Matanzas fire is seen Saturday from a beach viewpoint. (Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)
Diaz-Canel traveled to the area of the fire early Saturday, authorities said.
Local meteorologist Elier Pila showed satellite images of the area with a thick plume of black smoke moving from the point of the fire to the west and reaching as far east as Havana.
“This plume can be up to 150 kilometers long,” Pila wrote on his Twitter account.
A vintage car is parked Saturday as the sky in the background fills with smoke from the fire at the oil tank storage facility in Matanzas, Cuba. (Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)