Alexander Avalos Jorge, an official with Cuba's fire brigade, told reporters that "the four tanks" of 50 million liters each located in a storage base "have been compromised". "It was a chain reaction," he said.
The disaster began Friday evening when lightning struck one of the eight tanks of the deposit located in Matanzas, 100 km east of Havana, which contained 26,000 cubic meters of crude oil, or about 50% of its maximum capacity.
Consumed by fire, the cylindrical structure exploded in the early morning of Saturday, spreading the flames to a second tank containing 52,000 cubic meters of fuel oil.
Despite firefighters perched on cranes and helicopters carrying out multiple drops of water, this second tank in turn tore after an explosion on Sunday at midnight, forcing an emergency evacuation.
- Extinguishing foam -
"And what we feared has happened" with the burning and destruction of a third tank containing crude oil, Matanzas Governor Mario Sabines said on Monday in a video posted on the presidency's Twitter account, before to see the fire spread to a fourth tank.
The situation is "very complex" with a "fairly large" fire area, the governor said.
Mr Sabines said "teams" of rescue workers from Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela "are being positioned" to spread the fire extinguishing foam, which "may take some time".
According to a latest report, a firefighter died and the figure of 16 missing was reduced to 14, while 22 people are still hospitalized, including five in critical condition.
Relatives of the disappeared met with President Miguel Diaz-Canel and received assistance from doctors and psychologists.
"My son did his duty, he went" to the fire, the mother of a 19-year-old firefighter told AFP, in tears, who was at the oil depot on Saturday morning when an explosion blew the fire. first tank on fire.
On Sunday, four planes from Mexico and Venezuela landed at the resort town of Varadero, 40 kilometers northeast of Matanzas, carrying oil firefighting specialists and tons of firefighting foam.
This tragedy comes three months after the explosion in Havana of the Saratoga hotel caused by a gas leak, which left 46 dead, including a Spanish tourist, and more than 50 injured.
