17 firefighters were missing in an oil storage facility in Cuba

17 firefighters were missing in an oil storage facility in Cuba

According to media sources, 17 firemen are still missing. At the same time, a significant fire started by a lightning strike at an oil storage facility raged in Matanzas city on Saturday (local time).

Firefighters are still attempting to put out the incident at the Matanzas Supertanker Base, where it started after a rainstorm on Friday night, according to the country’s Ministry of Energy and Mines, according to CBS News.

Later, the administration claimed it had sought assistance from foreign specialists in “friendly nations” with oil industry knowledge. 

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Additionally, according to the official Cuban News Agency, a fire was started by lightning striking one tank, which then spread to a second tank.

Military helicopters soared above, dousing the flames with water to put out the fire that had overrun the neighboring region. Thick black smoke plumes rose from the complex and extended 62 miles (more than 100 kilometers) to the west, toward Havana.

Roberto de la Torre, chief of fire operations in Matanzas, said firefighters were spraying water on undamaged tanks to keep them cold in the hopes of stopping the fire from spreading but declining to provide further information about it.

The Matanzas provincial government’s Facebook page said that 77 persons had been hurt and 17 more were missing. The 17 were “firefighters who were in the adjacent region attempting to prevent the spread,” according to the Republic’s Presidency.

Seven of the wounded were sent to Havana’s renowned burn center, Calixto Garcia Hospital.