A third depot at the Matanzas fuel storage base in western Cuba caught fire and collapsed this Monday, where firefighters have been battling a gigantic fire for two days that left one dead, 24 injured and 16 missingreported the governor of the province, Mario Sabines.
“The third tank also collapsed, after fuel spilled from the second and further compromised the situation in the early morning hours,” Sabines told state television.
The large-scale incident began on Friday when lightning struck a tank, which is part of a fuel storage plant in which there were a total of eight huge tanks.
In a telegram sent on behalf of Pope Francis by the Secretary of StateCardinal Pietro Parolin the pontiff assured that he follows “closely” the news arriving at the Vatican about the “unfortunate accident”.
“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 give them strength in this moment of pain and sustain the work of extinction and search,” he wrote in the letter sent to the president. of the episcopal conference of Cuba, Monsignor Emilio Aranguren Echeverría.
The first tank contained 26,000 cubic meters of crude oil, around 50% of its maximum capacity.
During the early hours of Saturday this large cylinder with a concave lid collapsed and the fire spread to a second tank containing 52,000 cubic meters of fuel oil. The latter collapsed at midnight on Sunday.
Given the risk, “the forces that worked in the place had been evacuated on Sunday night”said the provincial government of Matanzas.
According to the latest medical reportreleased before the collapse, the balance is one dead, while 24 people remain hospitalized, five of them in critical condition.
The 16 people reported missing are “firefighters who were in the closest area” to the fire, the presidency reported on Saturday.
The body of firefighter Juan Carlos Santana, 60, located on Saturday, was buried this Sunday with honors in his native town of Rodas, in the neighboring province of Cienfuegos.
Relatives of the disappeared met with President Miguel Díaz-Canel in a central hotel in Matanzas, where they are assisted by doctors and psychologists in their anguished wait.
The Cuban Presidency confirmed that it is “an oil spill from the second tank” and that the third did not collapse.
The two damaged tanks were together and Authorities have feared since Saturday that the fire will spread to a third warehouse.
