A series of large explosions has complicated this Monday the work of extinguishing the fire in Matanzas, Cuba. The explosions, with columns of fire of several tens of meters, created a curtain of thick black smoke that has made it impossible for experts to analyze the situation on the ground. The fire, now out of control, could continue for days.
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Specifically, the extent of the damage to the third and fourth fuel tanks, of the eight that make up the supertanker base, of 50,000 cubic meters each, is unknown.
“The high temperatures have made work very difficult and it has been committing itself in a chain reaction and it has been practically impossible to achieve extinction,” he admitted this Monday at a press conference. Alexander Avalos Jorgesecond chief of National Department of Extinction of the Fire Department of Cuba.
According to Ávalos, the other four tanks at the base are also “compromised” by the high temperatures of the fire and the wind in the area.
“We can still be days to extinguish the fire,” he added.
“The high temperatures have made the work very difficult and it has been committing itself in a chain reaction and it has been practically impossible to achieve extinction”
On the other hand, as a result of the recent explosions and the profusion of smoke at ground level, the use of a powerful hydraulic pump installed by the cooperation teams from Venezuela Y Mexicoa key step to control the fire.
So far one death has been reported, the injured amount to 125 and the number of hospitalized stands at 22. The provisional number of missing persons has been revised downwards and now stands at 14.
The people not located are mainly firefighters who were surprised by one of the first big explosions. The recovery of the bodies will not begin until the flames are extinguished, explained the Cuban government.
The number of evacuees remains above 4,000.
Early on Monday, the Cuban authorities confirmed the collapse of a third deposit, which had been denied at dawn. Later they qualified that version and clarified that, in reality, it was the fall of the dome of the structure.
The first information indicated that the contents of the second tank had spilled when the walls of the infrastructure cracked and it was only confirmed at the end of the afternoon that they had reached the fourth tank.
Among the hubbub of the day was the fear among the residents of Matanzas, who have been asked to use the mask indoors due to the smoke, which has been increasing over the hours, far from dissipating.
Added to this climate were the hoaxes on social networks that alerted residents of the Versalles neighborhood -near the industrial zone- that they should leave their homes immediately in the face of a new imminent outbreak, something that was later denied by the Government and the official press. .
Fire in industrial area of Matanzas, Cuba. Photo: Eliana Aponte.
more blackouts
As a collateral consequence of the fire, the country can only meet 60% of the electricity demand during the peak hours of this Monday.
The state company Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (UNE) indicated that this situation is due to the fact that, in addition to the difficulties that the national energy system has been going through for months, the forced disconnection of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant -one of the largest in the country- is added. for the accident.
These facilities, 2.7 kilometers from the park of fuel tanks that have been burning since Friday in Matanzas, closed due to lack of water for cooling.
This has caused the UNE to raise the expected affectation for the hours of greatest consumption this day to 1,200 megawatts (MW).
The temporary closure of the plant is due to the fact that the water supply was interrupted during the night due to operations to put out the flames in the area of the incident.
The state hydrocarbons Union Cuba-Petroleo (CUPET) already warned on Saturday that the thermoelectric plant only had fuel reserves for 48 hours.
The Cuban government has not yet made public estimates of the economic damage caused by this incident, which affects the country at a delicate time.
The fire broke out around 7:00 p.m. local time (11:00 p.m. GMT) on Friday, according to initial hypotheses, when lightning struck a fuel tank.
Fire in industrial area of Matanzas, Cuba. Photo: Eliana Aponte.
That same afternoon the first tank exploded, with some 25,000 cubic meters of oil, and at around 7:00 local time (11:00 GMT) the second, with an undetermined amount of fuel, ignited.
Around 11:30 p.m. local time on Sunday (3:30 GMT on Monday) the collapse of the second deposit took place, which caused a huge explosion, the precedent of those that shook Matanzas on Monday.
EFE
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