Cuba Fire: 7 missing, 121 hurt, 1 dead

Cuba Fire: A massive fire broke out after lightning struck an oil storage area in the Cuban city of Matanzas on Saturday. One person died and around 121 people were injured and 17 firefighters were missing as the fire went out of control. At least four explosions were heard after the lightning struck.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines tweeted that firefighters and other experts spent hours trying to douse the fire at the Matanjas supertanker base.

The fire broke out during a thunderstorm on Friday night. The government later said it sought help from international experts from friendly countries with experience in the oil sector.

After which Mexico and Venezuela sent several teams to help control the fire, and the US also gave technical advice.

The official Cuban news agency said lightning struck a petrol tank that started the fire. The fire later spread to other tanks. Military helicopters were deployed to douse the fire. Firefighters in large numbers were seen battling for hours to extinguish the fire. The provincial government's Facebook page put the number of people injured in the fire at 121 and 17 firefighters missing.

The accident comes at a time when Cuba is going through a severe fuel crisis. Cuba is battling daily blackouts and fuel shortages. The situation may now worsen with the loss of fuel and storage capacity.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel gave information about this entire incident. "We express our deepest gratitude to the governments of Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Chile who have offered immediate assistance to cope with this complex situation," he tweeted. He told that America has also done the work of providing technical advice in this crisis.

Cuban officials said at least 121 people were injured in the second blast, of whom 36 were hospitalized, five in critical condition. At the same time, more than 1,000 civilians have been evacuated from the area. Local resident Alfredo González said there was a huge explosion at around 8 pm last night and the second one at 5 am this morning was so big that it lit up the entire area like a sun.

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