The Vice Minister for Risk Management and Civil Protection, Admiral Juan Carlos Paituvi, carried out an inspection at the La Salina de Cabimas tank farm, corroborating and announcing that the incident “is now fully controlled.”
The senior government official also reported that “the incident, which affected crude oil tank 75012, has left no fatalities, nor has it endangered nearby communities, and those injured in the sudden explosion are stable.
The fire that broke out early Tuesday morning was caused by a lightning bolt hitting crude oil tank 75012 at PDVSA’s La Salina industrial yard, during the electrical storm that covered Cabimas and mobilized the prevention and safety agencies of the Eastern shore of the lake.
The incident left 26 people injuredaccording to the commander of the Cabimas Fire Department, Mufid Houmeidan.
“There were 26 people injured, 22 with minor burns and four with second-degree burns,” he explained.
Houmeidan explained that “the fire intensified due to an overflowing of the tank, which generated great heat radiation. “The flames consumed the containment dam and part of the interior of the tank.”
The twisted irons show that the fire was completely extinguished; However, the heroes in blue carried out cooling work on the smoking remains until late in the afternoon.
The commander of the Cabimas Fire Department highlighted the work of more than 100 officials assigned to PDVSA and the city’s fire department, who joined forces from 4:30 am in the early hours of the 15th until 8 am on Wednesday the 16th, to the total extinction of the fire in the Pdvsa La Salina Tank.
