A gigantic fire in oil tanks in Matanzas, a city in western Cuba, reached this Monday (8) the third day under an increased risk of growing even more. During the night, a second warehouse collapsed and, with the explosion, there were fears that the lid of a third structure had been ejected — leading to fears that it could be consumed by fire as well.
While firefighters have been fighting the flames for more than 48 hours, the balance of the incident remains with one dead and 16 missing.
The massive fire started on Friday night (5), when lightning struck a tank that is part of a plant with eight large fuel tanks. This first structure contained 26 thousand cubic meters of oil, almost 50% of the maximum capacity; in the early hours of Saturday (6), it collapsed and the flames spread to a second tank, with 52 thousand cubic meters of fuel. It was this tank that collapsed between Sunday and Monday.
Faced with the risk involving the third structure, the units that worked at the site had to be temporarily removed, according to the provincial government of Matanzas, a city 105 kilometers from Havana.
The authorities are coordinating the work with the support of brigades sent by Mexico and Venezuela — over the weekend, Cuban leader Miguel DÃaz-Canel also cited assistance from Russia, Chile and the US. Four Mexican and one Venezuelan planes landed at Varadero airport, 40 kilometers north of Matanzas, with equipment and technical assistance.
“Aid is important, I believe it will be decisive,” said DÃaz-Canel.
According to the most recent medical bulletin, released before the second tank collapsed, 24 people remain hospitalized, 5 of them in critical condition. The number of injured, however, exceeds 120. The 16 people reported as missing are firefighters who were in the area closest to the fire.
The first dead person identified in the incident is precisely agent Juan Carlos Santana, 60. His body, located on Saturday, was buried this Sunday in Rodas. Relatives of the missing met with Cuban leader Miguel DÃaz-Canel at a hotel in downtown Matanzas, where they receive support from doctors and psychologists.
The tragedy comes three months after an explosion caused by a gas leak at the Saratoga hotel in Havana, a tragedy that left 46 dead and more than 50 injured, with the almost total destruction of the property.
It also occurs in the midst of yet another serious crisis on the Caribbean island involving the shortage of energy, aggravated by the precarious conditions in the thermoelectric plants. Since May, regime authorities have predicted blackouts every 12 hours, which has led to occasional protests in small towns.
Cuba currently has an average power distribution capacity of 2,500 megawatts, insufficient to meet demand at peak consumption times, which reaches 2,900 megawatts, according to official data.
The Cuban electricity grid also coexists with obsolescence and, according to analysts, is obsolete and close to collapse — a situation exacerbated by recent fires, which affected at least 2 of the 20 plants.
