After a first day of official mourning and after being officially informed that it would be impossible to accurately identify the bone fragments found in the sinister Super Tanker Basethousands of people went to the Matanzas Firefighters Museum to pay tribute to the victims of the fire.
Relatives, friends, co-workers, survivors of the tragedy and residents in general of that Cuban city were at the funeral services since the morning hours, which were also attended by the main authorities of the territory and the country, including President Miguel Díaz -Canel and ex-president Raúl Castro.
An honor guard accompanied the remains of the 14 disappeared during the tribute, deposited in urns covered by the Cuban flag, surrounded by floral offerings, and with photographs identified inside the museum, on a day in which neither the intense sun nor The rain prevented the continuous influx of people.
After 5:00 in the afternoon, and after a last honor guard led by Raúl Castro and Miguel Díaz-Canel, the funeral procession departed, which traveled through the main streets of Matanzas to the San Carlos cemetery, where the deceased were buried. remains in a private ceremony with the relatives of the deceased.
The 14 men, many of them young and firefighters, lost their lives as a result of a large explosion in the first hours of the fire, caused by a lightning strike in one of the base’s crude tanks, a tragedy that has left a balance of 16 fatalities and more than 130 injured, as well as considerable material losses for which an official estimate has not yet been published.
In previous days, the funeral ceremonies of two other firefighters who died as a result of the incident had already been carried out, who were honored posthumously in their respective municipalities of residence, in Rodas, Cienfuegos province, and in Bayamo, Granma.
OnCuba He was present at the funeral services this Friday in Matanzas and was able to leave a graphic record of what happened there. With these images, our media also pays tribute to the victims of the fire and reiterates our condolences to their families, friends and the Cuban people in general.
