The fire that broke out on Friday at an oil depot in Cuba is still out of control. Authorities announced on Monday that a third tank was destroyed by flames.
The disaster began Friday evening when lightning struck one of the eight tanks of the deposit located in Matanzas, 100 km east of Havana, which contained 26,000 cubic meters of crude oil, or about 50% of its capacity. maximum.
Riddled with fire, the cylindrical structure exploded in the early morning of Saturday, spreading the flames to a second tank containing 52,000 cubic meters of fuel oil.
Despite the firefighters perched on cranes and helicopters carrying out multiple water drops, this second tank in turn tore after an explosion on Sunday at midnight, forcing an emergency evacuation.
“And what we feared has happened” with the burning and destruction of a third tank containing crude oil, Matanzas Governor Mario Sabines said on Monday in a video posted on the presidency’s Twitter account.
‘Very complex’ situation
The situation is “very complex” with “three tanks on fire” and a “fairly large” fire area, the governor said, without specifying how many thousands of cubic meters this third tank contained.
Mr Sabines said ‘teams’ of rescue workers from Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela are ‘being positioned’ to spread the fire extinguishing foam, which ‘may take some time’.
According to a latest report, a firefighter died and 16 are still missing, while 26 people are hospitalized, including five in critical condition.
/ATS