Lightning strikes oil depot in Cuba, 17 missing and at least 77 injured

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Seventeen people are missing and 77 have been injured in a major fire that broke out at an oil depot when lightning struck it in western Cuba, which on Saturday issued a call for international assistance.

The seventeen missing are "firefighters who were in the area closest to the fire site" when the explosion occurred, said the office of the Cuban president, who "requested assistance and advice from friendly countries with experience in the oil sector".

President Miguel Diaz-Canel assessed on Twitter that extinguishing the fire "could take time".

Three of the injured are in critical condition, three are in very serious condition, and 12 have sustained serious injuries, writes the official newspaper Granma.

The fire broke out on Friday evening when lightning struck one of the tanks at the oil depot in the suburbs of Matanzas, a city of 140,000 inhabitants, about a hundred kilometers east of Havana. The fire then spread to a second tank.

According to Granma, "the lightning protection system could not handle the strong electrical discharge".

Mario Sabines Lorenzo, governor of Matanzas, said that about 800 people had been evacuated.

Asbel Leal, director of the Cuban Oil Union (CUPET), said that at the time of the accident, the first tank contained "about 26,000 cubic meters of domestic crude oil, or about half of its capacity". The second tank contained 52,000 cubic meters of fuel oil.

According to him, Cuba has never experienced a fire "of this magnitude".

The Antonio Guiteras power plant, the largest in Cuba, is supplied from this depot, but its power supply has not been interrupted, Granma adds.

The fire occurs at a time when the island has been experiencing supply difficulties since May due to increased electricity consumption due to summer heat.

Authorities have imposed electricity restrictions, lasting up to 12 hours in some areas, which has angered residents and led to about twenty protest gatherings so far.