In the west of Cuba, lightning struck an oil storage base. This caused such a large-scale fire that the authorities requested help from neighboring countries, in particular, Mexico and Venezuela.
The local newspaper Girón writes that the fire broke out in a tank with a capacity of 50,000 tons of oil, which was half full at the time of the impact. A few minutes later, the fire spread to another tank.
Firefighters are currently trying to cool down the damaged tank to prevent the flames from spreading to other fuel tanks.
As of the morning of August 7, it is known about one dead, 121 wounded, 17 missing. More than 1,300 people were evacuated from the danger zone.
Representatives of the authorities, including President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero and other government officials, went to the scene of the disaster.
During the explosion of the second tank, the Minister of Energy of Cuba, Nicolás Arronte Cruz, and the press group accompanying him were injured.
- Cuba suffers daily from power outages and fuel shortages, but this fire will make things even worse.