The official information is that the fire that has devoured the Matanzas Super Tanker Base since Friday began to subside this Tuesday. The Cuban Fire Department confirmed that the fourth tank, which exploded on Monday night, completely collapsed, and the state press itself published images of the four melted tanks.
Despite the fact that the authorities insist that “successful work is being done on extinction” and that the spread of the fire to the rest of the port’s facilities was prevented – four warehouses similar to those destroyed – they warn that on the surface of the tanks “there are still flames” and that “the risk continues”.
“It’s still a big fire, but we see a different situation than yesterday,” said Alexander Ávalos Jorge, deputy chief of the Fire Department’s National Department of Extinction, at a press conference on Tuesday.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel abounded in this, who appeared at the site to evaluate the progress of the work and said that there are still “possibilities that the fuel will catch fire again.”
The support teams from Venezuela and Mexico, reported Efe, were able to start up the hydraulic pump that they had installed and that had not been able to operate.
The support teams from Venezuela and Mexico, reported Efe, were able to start up the hydraulic pump that they had installed and that had not been able to operate. This Tuesday, in addition, two ships with the Mexican flag arrived: the Libertador, from the Secretary of the Navy, with a helicopter to help in the extinction, and the Bourbon Artabaze, a private ship hired by the state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) specialized in fires. in offshore oil installations.
The Mexican delegation, which began arriving on Saturday night, has sent almost 45,000 liters of retardant foam and two specialized irrigation pumps to the island in 13 flights.
In the images released, it can be seen that the black smoke from the incident turned gray, since the fuel in the tanks has been consumed, each with a capacity of 50,000 cubic meters (50 million liters) and filled in a quantity indeterminate.
The government version is that lightning struck one of the warehouses on Friday afternoon and, in circumstances not yet explained, since this type of installation must have protection against this natural eventuality, a fuel tank with 25,000 cubic meters of national crude lit up. The fire reached the neighboring warehouses one by one in the following days, between explosions that were broadcast live not only by private users but also by state television.
While they were working to extinguish the first fire, the explosion of the second tank caused the death of firefighter Juan Carlos Santana Garrido, whose body was recovered on Saturday, and the disappearance of 14 other officers, most of them 18 and 19-year-olds who they were undergoing military service, as testified by the desperate calls from family members on social networks.
In networks they give as deceased Leo Alejandro Doval Pérez de Prado and Michel Rodríguez Román, both in the Military Service
The Government has not published the list of those disappeared or recognized any more deceased, and has already announced that the recovery of the bodies will not begin until the flames are extinguished. This lack of transparency results in the dissemination of contradictory information.
Relatives of one of the disappeared, Leo Alejandro Doval Pérez de Prado, only 19 years old, wrote network messages considering him deceased, but this diary is awaiting confirmation by the family. Similarly, official journalists gave the death of Michel Rodríguez Román, 20 years old, but later they deleted the information. Both boys were in the Military Service.
In its latest report, the Cuban Ministry of Health indicated that of the total of 125 injured in the incident, 19 are hospitalized, 5 of them critical, 2 seriously and 12 with “care report”.
Another of the effects of the incident was the closure of operations, on Monday, of the largest thermoelectric plant in Cuba, the Antonio Guiteras, located almost five kilometers from the Supertanker Base.
Although the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE) reported that it had begun to start up again, on Tuesday night an attempt was frustrated. “Just a few minutes after synchronizing with the national electrical system, the CTE Antonio Guiteras came out again as a result of a shot,” official journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso posted on Facebook, without giving more detail to what he was referring to. The UNE, for its part, indicated that it was “for unknown reasons” that it is being investigated.
In any case, a new day of blackouts is presented. This Tuesday, only 60% of the island’s energy demand was covered.
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