Madrid Spain.- The rapid spread of the fire between the oil tanks at the Matanzas Supertanker Base shows that there were defects in its structure, considered the Russian specialist Alexandr Gofstein.
Speaking to the magazine Sputnik Gofstein also pointed out that when building such large fuel tanks, a certain distance must be respected between them and the fencing of each one, precisely to prevent the spill in one from affecting the other.
The Russian emeritus rescuer also referred to the need to create access roads to these places that allow firefighters to do their job in case of disasters such as the one unleashed in Matanzas last Friday, August 5.
Gofstein, who was head of the Rescuers Preparation Center in his country, also spoke about the “dry tubes”, responsible for cooling the tanks in case of fire.
According to the specialist, all these factors have influenced the fire to become “a disaster of such proportion”.
This Tuesday it was learned that four of the eight fuel tanks at the Matanzas Super Tanker Base they had collapsed.
Today the fire remains confined and both Cuban and international specialists work in the area using water, foam and other chemical products to extinguish the flames.
The fire, unprecedented in Cuba, has so far left nearly 5,000 people evacuated and 125 injured, including the Minister of Energy and Mines, Liván Nicolás Arronte Cruz. As a result of the incident, 14 firefighters remain missing and two have been publicly identified as fatalities.
Several doctors have pointed out the consequences that contamination from the fire can bring to health.
Among them is the Cuban doctor Alexander Figueredo, who explained to CubaNet that “environmental contamination of this nature brings health complications, mainly to the respiratory tract”; as well as “in the long term it can cause pneumonia, lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases, nervous system, liver, and kidney.”
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