This August 5 was a sad and emotional day in Matanzas: one day of flowers, tears and candles lit by the 17 fatal victims of the fire occurred three years ago in the SuperTanqueros Base of that Cuban city.
Several fueros tributes to the fallen fighting the flames in those fateful days of August 2022. In the military region of Matanzas they were reminded in an act that included a list pass, a minute of silence and roses in honor of the 17 lost lives, As reported The newspaper Girón.
The tribute, in which the tears were not lacking, took place in a square erected as a monument to the deceased and also as an evocation of the fight against terrible accident, starring Cuban forces together with specialists arriving from Mexico and Venezuela.
Then, at the “Enrique Estrada” Fire Barracks Museum, the “Fire Memories” photographic exhibition was inaugurated, with snapshots of what happened taken by the Matancera press.
Family, friends and companions of the victims, together with civil and military authorities, attended the opening of the exhibition, as before the act in the Matancara military region.
Also there, in front of the Virgin of the Forsaken, the Patroness Holy of the Firefighters, 17 candles were lit by each victim of the fire and the tears emerged again.
The public tribute concluded in the Cemetery of Matanzas, according to the review of Girón.
There, in front of the niche with the remains of the deceased, in the pantheon of the fallen by the defense, floral offerings were deposited in the name of the families of the victims and the Cuban people, and also of authorities and organizations of the island.
Three years after the tragedy
The fire at the Superanqueros base, located in the industrial zone of the city of Matanzas, broke out on the night of August 5, 2022.
According to the official version, the fire began by one of the base deposits, affected by an electric shock. Despite the effort of several units of the Fire Department, the burning tank exploded and the flames gradually extended three other battery tanks.
In the event 17 people died, most firefighters who participated in extinction work. In addition, 129 people were injured and were treated in hospital centers of Matanzas and Havana.
Despite the use of the most advanced techniques, Cuba could not identify the remains of 14 of the fatal victims due to the high temperatures that were recorded there, estimated at more than a thousand degrees Celsius.
Three years after the tragedy, a conclusive report on the causes of the incident has not been made public and the investigations have been what happened, while the rehabilitation tasks in the sinister installation still continue.
