MIAMI, United States. – The Information System of Cuban Television (SITV) released this Tuesday aerial images of the fire at the Matanzas Supertanker Base in which the remains of the two fuel tanks that were initially burned can be seen for the first time.
The media specialized in data journalism Inventory Project took screenshots of the video broadcast by Cuban Television and shared them on twitter.
In addition to noting that the fire has already begun to go out in tanks 51 and 52, several calcined tank cars can be seen in the screenshots.
This Tuesday marks five days since the fire started at the Matanzas Supertanker Base, after a lightning strike set one of the fuel tanks on fire.
According to the latest report from the Cuban authorities, so far 14 people remain missing and 22 patients are hospitalized, five of them in critical condition, two serious and 15 in care areas.
This Monday, CubaNet was in Matanzas to show live images of the fire that since last Friday, August 5, has consumed the Supertanker Base in the Matanzas industrial zone.
The weather conditions of the last few days have not helped in the work of extinguishing the fire, as the strong wind has made the flames advance more and more. What started with a tank, this monday reached the third deposit and then spread into the room.
According to the reporter CubaNet at the scene of the accident, the air feels heavy even to breathe. In the images you can see the sky covered by a large black cloud.
According to local residents, the column of smoke that emanated this Monday from the Supertanker Base was much wider than that of last Friday, which would have to do with the number of fuel tanks that are burning at the moment.
The situation at the scene, according to Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Ávalos Jorge, deputy chief of the National Extinction Department of the Cuban Fire Department, “remains complex.”
At a press conference this Monday, Ávalos Jorge explained that the four tanks currently on fire were “compromised” and that the outlook was “difficult” due to the high temperatures, the size of the tanks and the wind, “factors that constantly change the strategies of confrontation, for which we have the experience of Mexico and Venezuela”, he said.
“We have developed cooling actions, but they have become very difficult. This type of fire is unprecedented in the history of Cuba,” he added.
The priority is to prevent the spread of the disaster, “which extends to the areas near the generator sets, and for this the cooling of the tanks must first be achieved, which is a vital step in these processes, and then they must be applied foam,” he said.
The military also said that it is impossible to calculate when everything will end, since it may take several more days.
“We have the collaboration to make it as fast as possible, but it does not depend only on our attitude,” he said.
For the Cuban authorities, “so far there is no possibility that the flames spread to the Guiteras Thermoelectric Plant.” In addition, “work is being done so that they do not reach terminal 321, where there are products such as gasoline.”
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