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Cuban authorities reported this August 8 that several firefighters are trying to control a fire that broke out last Friday at the main oil storage facility in Matanzas. At least one person died and the emergency is aggravated after a second fuel tank exploded over the weekend, causing an oil spill. Rescuers remain on alert for the possible detonation of a third container of crude oil.
Cuba is still struggling to contain the flames at the Petroleum Super Tanker Base in Matanzas, three days after the first explosion was registered.
Mexico and Venezuela sent around 120 experts in fighting fuel fires who joined the Cuban firefighters and rescue teams transferred to the scene.
But the apparent progress in controlling the flames collapsed after shortly before midnight on Sunday, August 7, a second large explosion was recorded that “provoked the expansion of the fire to adjoining warehouses,” according to the state newspaper ‘Granma’.
That last detonation caused an oil spill and “work is being done intensely and effectively to control it,” assured the Matanzas Defense Council.
Live: Tense Monday day at the Supertanker Base (August 8)
✔️ Several teams from Granma 📰 are in different points of Matanzas, and in contact with the hospital centers of Havana pic.twitter.com/bcnc4YG6WP— Granma Newspaper (@Granma_Digital) August 8, 2022
At the same time, officials remain vigilant about what may happen with a third tank that stores crude oil. They fear its detonation, so “it is being cooled with water at intervals to maintain a suitable temperature that prevents combustion,” said Susely Morfa González, leader of the Communist Party.
“A little further, at the Supertanker Base, the presence of the fire is close and threatening and the workers and bosses work with an astonishing cold blood: the question is to install other pumps, manage to transport more water,” said ‘Granma’ .
The emergency is registered in the main oil storage facility of the port city, about 96 km from Havana, which consists of a total of eight tanks of 50,000 cubic meters each.
Each container could store around 300,000 barrels of oil, according to estimates by the director of the Energy and Environment Program for Latin America and the Caribbean at the University of Texas, Jorge Pinon.
“Meanwhile, rescue and salvage continue to enter their trucks into the heart of the disaster; the technicians continue splicing pipes and calculating meters per second; and the authorities controlling indications”, described the state press about the efforts to control the emergency.
At least 16 people are still missing
So far, the authorities confirm that at least one person died, 16 are missing and 122 were injured. Of the latter, around 20 remain hospitalized, including seven in critical condition.
The missing are mainly firefighters who were surprised by the explosion of the second tank when they were working in the front line of the fire to contain the deflagration of the first container.
However, the recovery of the bodies will not begin until the flames are controlled, explained the Cuban government.
In addition, more than 4,000 people who live in areas surrounding the industrial area received an evacuation order.
“Aid is important, I would say it is vital and it will be decisive (…) We are facing a fire of such magnitude that it is very difficult to control in Cuba, where we do not have all the means that are required,” said the President of the island, Miguel Díaz-Canel.
According to the first hypothesis handled by the authorities, the flames that began last Friday, August 5, were caused by the impact of lightning.
The fire rose several meters and the magnitude of the column of black smoke is such that it has been made visible in Havana.
Cuba has been experiencing daily blackouts and fuel shortages, so this loss of hydrocarbons could aggravate the situation, which has sparked small local protests in recent months.
With Reuters, EFE and local media
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