Twelve hours after it started, the massive fire is still burning which has been extended this Saturday to two tanks crude oil storage facility at the Matanzas Supertanker Base. The incident began around 7 pm on Friday when lightning struck tank 52, the Ministry of Energy and Mines reported on its Twitter account.
So far, 49 injuries have been reported, of which 2 are in critical condition and 7 are serious. Firefighters and workers from the Territorial Division of Cupet work to put out the flames. The impacted tank contains Cuban crude and at the time of receiving the electrical discharge it was at 50% of its capacity, which is 50,000 cubic meters.
The supertanker base has eight tanks and “has a lightning rod system, but apparently the discharge was higher than what it could protect,” explained Rigel Rodríguez Cubells, director of the Matanzas Territorial Fuel Marketing Division, to the official press. .
The lightning also caused the lid of the tank to be destroyed and shot out, detailed witnesses near the scene. A large column of flames and smoke is visible throughout the city of Matanzas, where residents fear that the fire could spread to the other tanks.
A large column of flames and smoke is visible throughout the city of Matanzas, where residents fear that the fire could spread to the other tanks.
Firefighters from Mayabeque and Havana have had to join the efforts to control the flames and “a regular flow of water is guaranteed with means from the province,” said the Governor of Matanzas, Mario Sabines Lorenzo.
Faced with fears of further damage to the national electricity system, the authorities have rushed to ensure that the unit of the “Antonio Guiteras” Thermoelectric Power Plant has not gone out of service. A note from the Ministry of Energy and Mines pointed out that the thermoelectric plant “is operating in a stable manner.”
This same Friday at dawn, unknown individuals set fire to a ranch located at the entrance to the town of Rafael Freyre, in Holguín, as the Municipal Assembly of People’s Power of the municipality acknowledged on its Facebook account.
In the official note, the fire was described as “a fateful event” and it was assured that “the rapid action of the residents of the community allowed to protect the basic means and resources of the State of the Rancho Villa unit, located at the entrance of the town” .
“The acts of violence are not the solution to the problems, acts like these leave much to be desired of the people who carry them out and the people of Freyrense are a people of peace, of love, they are supportive, respectful, educated, fraternal, hard-working” , add the text. “The people of Rafael Freyre energetically repudiate this fact. We are from Patria o Muerte. We will win!”
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