The Government reports that 17 people are still missing while emergency teams with the help of Mexico and Venezuela try to put out the fire at the base of fuel depots in the province of Matanzas
The Cuban emergency teams, with international support from Mexico and Venezuela, continue this Sunday fighting the serious fire that broke out at a fuel depot base in the province of Matanzas, in the west of the island. The Government confirmed that the first body has been recovered while 17 people are still missing and there are 121 wounded, 36 of whom are hospitalized and five remain in critical condition.
The tasks of firefighters, specialists and health workers have been maintained throughout the night in the area, where the flames have already affected two of the eight deposits, of 50,000 cubic meters each. According to official media, the fire has approached a third tank, although it seems that the firefighters have managed to lower the temperature in the area by cooling, even with a helicopter, with sea water.
In parallel, work is being done on the evacuation of diesel in this third deposit, by means of tank trucks and a cabotage ship, coming from Havana, which this Sunday will try to dock in the area to evacuate part of the fuel.
At dawn, teams of specialists from Mexico and Venezuela have joined the firefighting tasks. The team from the Aztec country, the first to arrive at the scene, has 60 soldiers and 16 technicians from the state oil company Pemex, specialized in managing industrial fires. For its part, 35 troops from the national oil company PDVSA and 20 tons of supplies arrived from the Bolivarian State.
The fire broke out around 7:00 p.m. local time (11:00 p.m. GMT) on Friday, when, according to initial hypotheses, lightning struck the base of the fuel tanks and exceeded the capabilities of the lightning rod system. That same afternoon, the first tank exploded, with some 25,000 cubic meters of oil, and around 7:00 local time (11:00 GMT) on Saturday, the second ignited, with an undetermined amount of fuel.
“Toxic gases”
The flames have risen several tens of meters, dyeing the Matanzas sky red, and the huge column of black smoke has reached the adjoining province of Havana, more than 100 kilometers away. Faced with the “imminent danger of the dissemination of toxic gases,” the local government of Matanzas ordered “the massive evacuation of the closest populations” to the epicenter industrial zone of the tragedy.
Several planes poured seawater and sand over the burned area to prevent the flames from spreading to other fuel depots, and physical barriers were placed as firebreaks to protect the dock and nearby neighborhoods.
“The extinction of the fire may still take time,” the country’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, stressed on Twitter, while the director of Commerce and Supply of the state Cuba-Petroleum Union (Cupet), Asbel Leal, specified that the island will never it had faced a fire of “the magnitude that we have today”. In fact, Havana is already working on coordination with the United States to materialize Washington’s offer of help.
#Cuba #confirms #dead #raises #wounded #fire #port