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The official Cuban Information Company stated the lightning strike set one tank on fireplace and the blaze later unfold to a second tank.
The Fb web page of the provincial authorities of Matanzas stated the variety of injured had reached 77, whereas 17 folks had been lacking. The Presidency of the Republic stated the 17 had been “firefighters who had been within the nearest space making an attempt to stop the unfold.”
The accident comes as Cuba struggles with gas shortages. There was no fast phrase on how a lot oil had burned or was in peril on the tank farm, which shops oil used to gas electrical energy manufacturing.
“I used to be within the gymnasium once I felt the primary explosion. A column of smoke and horrible fireplace rose by the skies,” resident Adiel Gonzalez instructed The Related Press by cellphone. “The town has a powerful scent of sulfur.”
Authorities stated the Dubrocq neighborhood closest to the fireplace was evacuated, whereas Gonzalez added that some folks determined to depart the Versailles district, which is a bit of farther from the tank farm.
There have been many ambulances, police and fireplace engines, he stated.
Matanzas, which has about 140,000 inhabitants, is 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Havana, on Matnzas Bay.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel traveled to the world of the fireplace early Saturday, officers stated.
Native meteorologist Elier Pila confirmed satellite tv for pc photographs of the world with a dense plume of black smoke transferring from the purpose of the fireplace westward and reaching east to Havana.
“That plume could be near 150 kilometers lengthy,” Pila wrote on his Twitter account.
Andrea Rodríguez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ARodriguezAP
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