A fireplace set off by a lightning strike at an oil storage facility raged uncontrolled Saturday within the metropolis of Matanzas, the place 4 explosions and flames injured almost 80 folks and left 17 firefighters lacking, Cuban authorities stated.

Firefighters and different specialists had been nonetheless making an attempt to quell the blaze on the Matanzas Supertanker Base, the place the hearth started throughout a thunderstorm Friday evening, the Ministry of Vitality and Mines tweeted. The governmeht stated later that it had requested for assist from worldwide specialists in “pleasant international locations” with expertise within the oil sector.

The official Cuban Information Company stated lightning hit one tank, beginning a hearth, and the blaze later unfold to a second tank. As navy helicopters flew overhead dropping water on the blaze, dense column of black smoke billowed from the power and unfold westward greater than 100 kilometers (62 miles) towards Havana.

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 instant phrase on how a lot oil had burned or was at risk on the storage facility, which has eight large tanks that maintain oil used to gas electrical energy producing vegetation.

“I used to be within the fitness center once I felt the primary explosion. A column of smoke and horrible fireplace rose by the skies,” resident Adiel Gonzalez advised The Related Press by cellphone. “Town has a powerful scent of sulfur.”

Authorities stated the Dubrocq neighborhood closest to the hearth was evacuated, whereas Gonzalez added that some folks determined to go away the Versailles district, which is just a little farther from the tank farm.

Many ambulances, police and fireplace engines had been seen within the streets of Matanzas, a metropolis with about 140,000 inhabitants that’s on Matnzas Bay.

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

Native meteorologist Elier Pila confirmed satellite tv for pc photographs of the realm with a dense plume of black smoke shifting from the purpose of the hearth westward and reaching east to Havana.

“That plume might be near 150 kilometers lengthy,” Pila wrote on his Twitter account.