[EN IMAGES] Cuba: At least one dead in massive fire at oil depot

Cuba has received aid from several countries after a massive oil warehouse fire struck by lightning killed at least one person, injured 121 and left 17 missing.

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Cuba has received aid from several countries after a massive oil warehouse fire struck by lightning killed at least one person, injured 121 and left 17 missing.

About 1,900 people were evacuated from the disaster area in the suburb of Mantanzas, a town of 140,000 people, about 100 kilometers east of Havana, where thick black smoke could be seen obscuring the sky.

“A body was found at the crash site,” Matanzas Health Director Luis Armando Wang told a news conference.

Five of the injured are in serious condition, three are in critical condition and 28 are seriously injured, according to the latest report communicated on the Presidency’s Twitter account.

Energy Minister Livan Aronte was among the injured.

The 17 missing firefighters were “in the vicinity of the fire” when the explosion occurred.

On Friday evening, one of the tanks in the oil depot was struck by lightning and caught fire. By early morning, the fire had spread to the second tank.

Faced with fire control that “may take time,” Cuba has “requested the help and advice of friendly countries with experience in the oil sector,” according to Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

Responses were swift and the Cuban president took to Twitter to express his “profound gratitude to the governments of Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Nicaragua, Argentina and Chile for their quick material support and solidarity in the face of this complex situation”.

“We are also grateful for the technical assistance from the United States,” he added. Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cosio said the US proposal was “already in the hands of experts for proper coordination”.

The United States Embassy in Havana previously said it was “in consultation” with Cuban officials, noting that despite the ongoing sanctions regime against the ruling sole party, “US law allows organizations and institutions to provide relief and disaster responses in Cuba.”

“The sky is yellow”

On Saturday, helicopters using cranes and water hoses were working hard to control the fire.

Ginelva Hernandez, 33, was awoken by a violent explosion as she, her husband and three children slept. “We threw ourselves out of bed. When we went out into the street, the sky was yellow,” she told AFP. At that time, “people’s fear was out of control.”

Laura Martinez, a resident near the disaster site, told AFP that “I felt the explosion like a shock wave”.

Hearing the first blast, Yuni Hernandez, 32, and her children fled to their home two kilometers from the depot. They returned a few hours later and in the early morning heard more explosions and the sounds of “tank pieces falling”.

According to Asbel Leal, director of trade and supply at the Cuban Petroleum Union (CUPET), the first tank “contained approximately 26,000 cubic meters of domestic crude oil or approximately 50% of its maximum capacity” at the time of the disaster. The second tank holds 52,000 cubic meters of fuel oil.

Cuba had never faced a fire of “today’s magnitude,” he said.

According to the official Granma daily, “there was a failure in the lightning rod system, which could not withstand the power of the electric discharge”.

The deposit feeds the Antonio Guiteras power plant, Cuba’s largest, but Granma said the plant has not stopped pumping.

The fire occurred as eight thermoelectric plants were idled to meet the increased power demand due to the summer heat.

In some parts of the country, authorities must carry out rotating cuts of up to 12 hours a day, with up to twenty demonstrations, drawing the ire of angry residents.