1 dead, 17 missing and dozens hurt as fire rages in Cuban oil tank farm

The official Cuban News Agency said lightning hit one tank, starting a fire, and the blaze later spread to a second tank

Cuba has been suffering daily blackouts and fuel shortages. Loss of fuel and storage capacity is likely to aggravate situation which led to protests

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Workers of the Cuba Oil Union, known by the Spanish acronym CUPET, watch a huge rising plume of smoke from the Matanzas Supertanker Base, as firefighters work to quell a blaze which began during a thunderstorm the night before, in Matanzas. Photo: AP

Published: 9:10am, 7 Aug 2022Updated: 2:20pm, 7 Aug 2022

A fire set off by a lightning strike at an oil storage facility raged uncontrolled in the Cuban city of Matanzas, where four explosions and flames injured 121 people and left 17 firefighters missing. Cuban authorities said an unidentified body had been found late on Saturday.

Firefighters and other specialists were still trying to quell the blaze at the Matanzas Supertanker Base, where the fire began during a thunderstorm on Friday night, the Ministry of Energy and Mines tweeted. Authorities said about 800 people were evacuated from the Dubrocq neighbourhood closest to the fire,

The government said it had asked for help from international experts in “friendly countries” with experience in the oil sector.

Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío said the US government had offered technical help to quell the blaze. On his Twitter account, he said the “proposal is in the hands of specialists for the due coordination.”

A column of smoke generated by the fire in a fuel depot in Matanzas, Cuba. According to a Cuban Presidency report, more than a dozen firefighters are missing while battling the fire in a petroleum deposit. Photo: EPA-EFE

Minutes later, President Miguel Diaz-Canel thanked Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Nicaragua, Argentina and Chile for their offers of help. A support flight from Mexico arrived on Saturday night.

The official Cuban News Agency said lightning hit one tank, starting a fire, and the blaze later spread to a second tank. As military helicopters flew overhead dropping water on the blaze, dense column of black smoke billowed from the facility and spread westward more than 100 kilometres toward Havana.