The Pope Francisco lamented on Monday the serious industrial fire unleashed in the Super tanker base in Matanzas (western Cuba), which so far has caused the death of a firefighter, the disappearance of another 16 and more than 120 people injured. He conveyed his closeness to those affected.
“The Holy Father is closely following the news that arrives about the unfortunate accident that has caused a fire and several explosions at the Matanzas Supertanker Base, with at least one deceased and numerous wounded and missing,” wrote the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, in a telegram to the bishop of Holguín and president of the Episcopal Conference of Cuba, Emilio Aranguren Echeverría.
“Pope Francis assures his spiritual closeness to the Cuban people and to all the families of those affected; and he prays to the Lord to grant them strength in this time of pain and sustain the efforts of extinction and search. With these sentiments, he imparts the comforting apostolic blessing to them from the heart”, the message quoted by the Spanish agency concluded. Eph.
Of great magnitude, the incident was unleashed last Friday by an electrical discharge that affected a tank that stored national crude oil, according to the first investigations. 4,000 people were evacuated from homes near the site. The fire has already affected three warehouses.
Efe/OnCuba.
