The Cuban Government acknowledged that 17 people disappeared in the catastrophe at the Matanzas Supertanker Base. However, apart from the orders to find them, given in the middle of meetings and before the spotlights of the state information machinery, he has not given details about the identity and fate of those disappeared.
In social networks and in the streets of Matanzas circulate versions. Several point out that among the disappeared there are young people who passed the military service in a fire department in Matanzas.
On Saturday, Díaz-Canel called for prioritizing the injured and the families of the disappeared. He did it during a meeting in Matanzas, surrounded by the dome of power and the highest authorities of the province.
The ruler too wrote in a message on Twitter: “It is urgent to find the firefighters missing in the explosion and take care of their families. The situation is difficult, but we are also going to come out of this. #ForceMatanzas”.
For his part, the prime minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, referred “to a balance of missing persons” in a message about the fire in which he added: “We work hard, with the certainty that we will solve it”.
A message released by the National Assembly of People’s Power this Sunday and collected by the official portal Cubadebate included among “priorities” established by Díaz-Canel “the preparation of the ground to start the search for those reported missing when the control of the event allows it.”
Apart from these statements, no official information has been offered about who the disappeared were, under what conditions and with what means they faced the fire.
Shocking images published by the official press on Saturday showed firefighters working very close to the burning tanks.. They were taken just before the second explosion occurred, after which the emergency services were activated and the Faustino Pérez Surgical Clinical Hospital received more than fifty burn injuries in its Guard Corps.
This Sunday, the magazine Bohemia published new images of a group of firefighters fighting the firealso taken before the second explosion.
The official silence favors the proliferation of rumors and uncertainty about the fate of these 17 people.
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Posted by Bohemia on Sunday, August 7, 2022