Dozens hurt after lightning hits Cuban oil tank farm, causing fire, 4 explosions

Lightning struck a crude oil storage tank within the metropolis of Matanzas, inflicting a hearth that led to 4 explosions which injured greater than 50 individuals, Cuban authorities stated Saturday.

Firefighters and different specialists had been nonetheless making an attempt to quell the blaze on the Matanzas Supertanker Base, which started throughout a thunderstorm Friday evening, the Ministry of Vitality and Mines tweeted.

The official Cuban Information Company stated the lightning strike set one tank on hearth and the blaze later unfold to a second tank.

The accident comes as Cuba struggles with gasoline shortages. There was no quick phrase on how a lot oil had burned or was in peril on the tank farm, which shops oil used to gasoline electrical energy manufacturing.

A column of smoke and a sulphur scent

Officers at Faustino Perez Hospital reported 52 injured, in line with the provincial authorities’s Fb web page. The hospital’s director, Dr. Taymi Martinez, stated one individual was in extraordinarily vital situation, three sufferers had been in vital situation and 10 in critical situations.

“I used to be within the fitness center after I felt the primary explosion. A column of smoke and horrible hearth rose by the skies,” resident Adiel Gonzalez informed The Related Press by telephone.

“The town has a powerful scent of sulphur.”

Authorities stated the Dubrocq neighborhood closest to the hearth was evacuated, whereas Gonzalez added that some individuals determined to depart the Versailles district, which is a bit of farther from the tank farm.

There have been many ambulances, police and hearth engines, he stated.

Matanzas, which has about 140,000 inhabitants, is about 100 kilometres from Havana, on Matanzas Bay.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel travelled to the realm of the hearth early Saturday, officers stated.