Sylvie Claire / August 7, 2022
Cuba has received offers of assistance from many countries after it appealed for help to deal with the huge fire at an oil depot hit by lightning that caused explosions in which at least one person was killed, 121 injured and 17 still missing.
Some 1,900 people were evacuated from the disaster area, located in the suburbs of Mantanzas, a city of 140,000 inhabitants 100 kilometers east of Havana, from where the huge plume of black smoke obscuring the sky was visible.
A body was found at the site of the accident, said Luis Armando Wong, director of Health in Matanzas, at a press conference.
Five injured are in critical condition, three in very serious condition and 28 seriously injured, according to a latest report on the Twitter account of the Presidency.
Among the injured is the Minister of Energy, Livan Arronte.
The 17 people missing are firefighters who were in the area closest to the fire when an explosion occurred.
The fire started on Friday evening when lightning struck one of the tanks at the oil depot. In the early morning, the fire then spread to a second tank.
Faced with the difficult control of the fire which could take time, according to Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Cuba has requested the help and advice of friendly countries with experience in the oil sector.
The responses were not long in coming and the Cuban president expressed on Twitter his deep gratitude to the governments of Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Nicaragua, Argentina and Chile, which quickly offered material aid in solidarity with this complex situation.
We are also grateful for the offer of technical assistance from the United States, he added. Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio said the U.S. proposal is already in the hands of specialists for proper coordination.
Helicopters were at work to fight the fire on Saturday, with water hoses approached with cranes.
According to Asbel Leal, director of trade and supply at the Cuban Petroleum Union (Cupet), the first tank contained about 26,000 cubic meters of domestic crude, about 50% of its maximum capacity at the time of the disaster. The second tank contained 52,000 cubic meters of fuel oil.
Cuba has never faced a fire of the magnitude of today's, he said.
The depot supplies the Antonio Guiteras power plant, Cuba's largest, but pumping to the plant has not stopped, Granma said
The fire comes as the island faces the obsolescence of the eight thermoelectric plants to meet the increased demand for electricity due to the summer heat.