Cuban firefighters were still battling the blaze at an oil depot that was consuming four of the eight tanks Tuesday, focused on preventing the blaze from spreading further and preparing to spread large quantities of fire-fighting foam.
From dawn, four helicopters circled to drop water in the middle of the burning oil to clear a path for firefighters on the ground, an AFP journalist noted.
“Fire crews continue to make their way past the blaze to allow the brigades tasked with dispersing the foam to advance,” Matanzas Governor Mario Sabines said on his Twitter account.
The thick black smoke released is limiting visibility for pilots assisted by drones, he said.
“Approximately 40 trucks with the dry materials are on stand-by to help contain the blaze,” the governor added.
A total of 17 planes, 13 from Mexico and four from Venezuela, landed with oil firefighting specialists and firefighting foam in the resort town of Varadero, 40 kilometers northeast of Matanzas.
On Monday, efforts to avoid the “spread of the fire” were focused on a “terminal housing the tanks of clear products,” gasoline and other light fuels that are even more combustible than crude oil and heating oil used in the four tanks were exhausted, Alexander Avalos Jorge, Cuba’s deputy fire chief, said at a news conference.
“The four tanks” each with 50 million liters “burst into flames,” he said, “it was a chain reaction.”
According to a recent report, one firefighter died and 14 others are missing, while 22 people are still hospitalized, including five in critical condition.
The disaster began Friday night when lightning struck a tank containing 26,000 cubic meters of crude oil, or about 50% of its maximum capacity, at the depot in Matanzas, 100km east of Havana.
Explosions and flames several dozen meters high then spread the fire to the three other tanks, which contained up to 52 million liters of fuel oil or crude oil.