Article author:
Reuters
Mark Frank and Nelson Acosta
HAVANA — A large oil supply hit near the Cuban supertanker port in Matanzas on Saturday as Mexico and Venezuela sent teams. The fire burned for two days. Helping fight hell, Cuba accepted an unspecified offer of "technical advice" from the United States.
On Friday evening, lightning struck one of his eight storage tanks at a facility 60 miles east of Havana. The heat from the blaze reached his second tank on Saturday, and the wind blew away dangerous flames near his third tank.
"I would like to express my deep gratitude to the governments of Mexico, Venezuela, Russia and Chile...for their swift provision of material assistance in the face of this complex situation," said Miguel of Cuba. President Diaz-Canel tweeted:
"We also appreciate the technical advice provided by the United States," he said.
Cuban authorities said at least 121 people were injured in the second blast, 36 of whom were hospitalized and five in critical condition. One person was killed and 17 firefighters went missing. Over 1,000 civilians have been evacuated from the area.
"At around 8pm yesterday there was a very large explosion, and at 5am today he had a second explosion that lit up the area like the sun," he said. Local resident Alfredo Gonzalez said.
Diaz Cannell visited the scene around midnight and returned on Saturday to coordinate the response as national television broadcast live the unfolding disaster.
Second Explosion Earlier, Diaz-Canel posted on Twitter that first responders were "trying to prevent the spread of flames and spillage of fuel" into Matanzas Bay.
Military helicopters were dumping seawater into nearby storage tanks as smoke reached Havana and warned residents to avoid acid rain.
Cuba suffers from daily blackouts and fuel shortages. The loss of fuel and storage capacity could exacerbate the situation, leading to small-scale local protests in the past few months.
Latin American and Caribbean Energy and Environment Program at the University of Texas at Austin. Director Jorge Pinon said the region has eight large tanks with a capacity of 300,000 barrels each.
"This area could be very bad news for the power grid as it is a transshipment point for fuel to various thermal power plants as well as nearby thermal power plants," he said. said. (Reporting by Mark Frank; Additional reporting by Reuters Television; Editing by Mike Harrison, Daniel Wallis, David Gregorio)
