The fire started on Thursday by a lightning strike on fuel tanks in the Cuban city of Matanzas has caused the collapse of a second tank late this Sunday, whose collapse has caused a powerful explosion visible from different parts of the island , including the capital, Havana.
The governor of Matanzas, Mario Sabines Lorenzo, has confirmed the collapse of the second of the three affected tanks, as well as the spill of crude oil to the surrounding areas, according to the official press. Still standing, however, is the third of these warehouses, although the situation remains uncontrolled after some 40 hours of uninterrupted flames.
The authorities of the Cuban regime maintain the provisional balance of one deceased at one, while another 15 people remain missing and five of the 24 hospitalized patients are in critical condition, according to the updated count by the Ministry of Public Health.
The residential area closest to the deposits, located in the supertanker port of Matanzas, remains evacuated as a precaution and it is not ruled out that the radius could be expanded if the situation worsens. The regime has ruled out danger to the city as a whole.
A huge column of fire of several tens of meters has suddenly risen from the area of the incident minutes before midnight (4.00 GMT), as broadcast on Cuban television.
According to official media reports, the efforts of the Cuban and international emergency teams to contain the flames in the first two warehouses affected have not been successful. The infrastructure has a total of eight tanks of 50,000 cubic meters each.
The flames have reached the third tank, which had been cooled with seawater for much of this Sunday, almost at the same time that the second affected tank collapsed due to the fire.
Shortly before, the emergency teams had withdrawn from the area of the incident after a strong wind prevented their work and fanned the flames.
DAMNIFIED
The Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) indicated in its last report that The fire has so far left one dead and 122 injured.of which five remain in critical condition, three are in serious condition and 16 are receiving care (the rest have been discharged).
The missing are mainly firefighters who were surprised by the explosion of the second tank when they were working on the front line to stop the fire in the first. The recovery of the bodies will not begin until the flames are extinguished, explained the Cuban regime.
News in development…