At least 121 people were injured and 17 missing when two fuel tanks exploded in the western Cuban city of Matanzas.
According to the new balance sheet announced by the Presidency, of the 121 injured, 5 are in serious condition, 3 are in serious condition, and 28 are in serious condition. Among the injured is Energy and Mines Minister Liván Arronte.
The presidency said Cuba had sought “help and advice from friendly countries experienced in oil.”
“We express our deep gratitude to the governments of Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Nicaragua, Argentina and Chile for their immediate financial assistance in the face of this complex situation,” President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on Twitter.
“We also appreciate the US offer of technical advice,” he added. Vice-Chancellor Carlos Fernández de Cossio said the American proposal “is already in the hands of experts for proper coordination”.
Asbel Leal, Director of Trade and Supply at the state-owned Unión Cuba-Petróleo (Kupet), said the country had never encountered a fire, while Díaz-Canel said “it may still take some time to put out the fire”. “The size we have today”.
The fire started at around 7 PM local time on Friday afternoon when lightning struck one of the tanks in the warehouse located on the outskirts of Matanzas, about 100 kilometers east of Havana. At 5 a.m. this Saturday, the fire reached a second barrel.
“We ran away”
“We felt the explosion, like a retreating airwave,” Laura Martínez, a resident of La Ganadera, about two kilometers from the scene, told AFP.
Matanzas officials stated that the number of people evacuated increased to 1900.
Yuney Hernández and her family fled their home in La Ganadera when the first explosion occurred. They returned “around three in the morning” because the children were sleepy, the 32-year-old told AFP.
But around 5 a.m. they began to hear more explosions and “it sounded like parts of the tank were falling,” he added.
Ginelva Hernández, 33, lives in the same community with her husband and three children. “We jumped out of bed and the sky was yellow when we got out,” she told AFP. The fear of people on the street is uncontrollable, ”she said.
According to Cupet, the first deposit “contained approximately 26,000 cubic meters of domestic crude oil, which was about 50% of its maximum capacity” when struck by lightning. The second tank carried 52,000 cubic meters of fuel.
lightning rod failure
“Apparently there was a fault in the lightning rod system that could not withstand the energy of the electrical discharge,” Granma said. Hazard Ricardo, a 37-year-old welder working in the field, cannot explain how the system failed.
Two tanks feed the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, Cuba’s largest, but added that pumping to this plant has not stopped.
On Saturday morning, two helicopters began spraying seawater to extinguish the fire, but work was interrupted by the escalation of the flames in the afternoon. In the afternoon, as the fire subsided, they were able to continue the action in front of the Gulf of Matanzas with a population of 140,000.
The fire broke out amid difficulties on the island since May to meet the rising energy demand from the summer heat.
The obsolescence, damage, scheduled maintenance and lack of fuel of eight thermoelectric power plants make power generation difficult.
Since May, authorities have scheduled power outages of up to 12 hours a day in parts of the country. Since then, twenty protests have been held in towns in the interior of the island.
source: Noticias
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