The fight to contain the fire at the oil depot continues
The fire that broke out on Friday evening continues to consume the tanks of the oil depot. Four helicopters are mobilized.
The disaster began Friday evening when lightning struck a tank at the depot located in Matanzas, 100 km east of Havana.
AFP
Cuban firefighters still fighting the fire at an oil depot that consumed four of the eight tanks, focused on Tuesday to prevent the fire from spreading further and were preparing to spread a huge amount of fire extinguishing foam.
From dawn, four helicopters circled to drop water in the middle of the burning oil to open a path for firefighters on the ground, noted an AFP journalist.
“Fire crews continue to make their way past the flames so that the brigades in charge of spreading the foam can move forward,” explained the governor of Matanzas, Mario Sabines, on his Twitter account. The thick black smoke released limits the visibility of pilots who are assisted by drones, he said. “About 40 trucks carrying the dry materials are ready to contain the flames,” added the governor.
Some 17 planes in total, 13 from Mexico and four from Venezuela, carrying oil firefighting specialists and firefighting foam landed at the resort town of Varadero, 40 kilometers northeast of Matanzas. On Tuesday, a Mexican army logistics support ship arrived in Matanzas Bay. Mexico City sent nearly 45,000 liters of fire extinguishing foam, 171 rolls of hose, 10 heliobuses, repellents, two foam spray pumps and 300 kilos of medicine.
Washington’s “Technical Aid”
Washington, after expressing condolences as early as Saturday, “offered technical assistance, which we also appreciated and accepted. The two governments are in regular contact. No need to speculate,” Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossio tweeted, referring to posts on social media complaining that Havana is not accepting US aid.
On Monday, efforts were concentrated in order to avoid “the spread of fire” at a “terminal where the tanks of clear products” are located, gasoline and other light fuels even more flammable than the crude oil and fuel oil which were in the four tanks consumed, said Alexander Avalos Jorge, Cuba’s deputy fire chief, at a press conference. “The four tanks” of 50 million liters each “were engulfed in flames”, he said, “it was a chain reaction”.
According to a latest report, a firefighter died and 14 others are missing, 22 people are still hospitalized, including five in critical condition. Of the 125 people received in hospitals in Matanzas Havana, 103 have been discharged. The disaster began Friday evening when lightning struck a tank at the depot located in Matanzas, 100 km east of Havana, which contained 26,000 cubic meters of crude oil, or about 50% of its maximum capacity.
Explosions and flames several dozen meters high then spread the fire to the three other tanks containing up to 52 million liters of fuel oil or crude oil.
AFP
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