Firefighters and other specialists are still trying to put out the fire at the Matanzas supertanker base, which started during a storm on Friday night, the Ministry of Energy and Mines said on Twitter. The government later said it sought help from international experts in “friendly countries” with experience in the oil sector. Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cosio said the US government offered technical assistance to extinguish the fire. On his Twitter account, he said that “the proposal is in the hands of experts for proper coordination.” Minutes later, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel thanked Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Nicaragua, Argentina and Chile for their offers of aid. The official Cuban news agency reported that lightning struck one tank, causing a fire, and the fire later spread to a second tank. As military helicopters flew overhead dropping water on the blaze, a thick plume of black smoke poured from the facility and spread west more than 100 kilometers toward Havana. Workers monitor a huge plume of smoke from the Matanzas Supertanker Base in Cuba on Saturday as firefighters work to put out a fire that started during a storm Friday night. (Ramon Espinosa/The Associated Press) Roberto de la Torre, head of fire operations in Matanzas, said firefighters were spraying water into intact tanks to try to keep them cool in hopes of preventing the fire from spreading. The Matanzas provincial government’s Facebook page said the number of injured reached 77, while 17 people were missing. The Presidency of the Republic said the 17 were “firefighters who were in the nearest area trying to prevent the spread”. Seven of the injured were taken to the Calixto Garcia Hospital in Havana, which has an apparent burns unit. Cuban authorities say dozens of people were injured after the lightning, fire and subsequent explosions at the Matanzas oil storage facility. (Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images) The accident comes as Cuba faces fuel shortages. There was no immediate word on how much oil had burned or was at risk at the storage facility, which has eight giant tanks containing oil used to fuel power plants.
Column of smoke and smell of sulfur
“I was in the gym when I felt the first explosion. A column of smoke and terrible fire shot up into the sky,” resident Adiel Gonzalez told The Associated Press by phone. “The city has a strong sulfur smell.” A man is seen pushing his bicycle along a road in Matanzas, Cuba, Saturday, as smoke billows from a fire at a nearby oil storage facility in the background. (Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images) Authorities said about 800 people were evacuated from the Dubrocq neighborhood closest to the fire, while Gonzalez added that some decided to leave the Versailles area, which is a little further from the tank farm. Scores of ambulances, police and fire trucks were seen on the streets of Matanzas, a city of about 140,000 on Matanzas Bay. Smoke from the Matanzas wildfire is seen from a beach vantage point Saturday. (Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters) Diaz-Canel traveled to the area of the fire early Saturday, officials said. Local meteorologist Elier Pila showed satellite images of the area with a thick plume of black smoke moving west from the fire site and reaching east as far as Havana. “This plume may be close to 150 kilometers long,” Pila wrote on his Twitter account. A vintage car sits parked Saturday as the sky in the background is filled with smoke from the fire at the oil tank storage facility in Matanzas, Cuba. (Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)
