Nearly 80 people have been injured in a major fire in oil tanks in the port of the Cuban city of Matanzas. Seventeen firefighters are missing. About 800 people were evacuated, the governor of Matanzas province said.
Cuba has enlisted help from other countries to fight the fire. The fire in the city east of Havana, according to authorities, started in a crude oil storage tank on Friday evening after a lightning strike. The fire spread to a second tank. According to Cuban media, there are a total of eight large tanks.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who went to Matanzas on Saturday to take stock, said it could take some time to bring the fire under control. According to the director of the state oil company, Cuba has never experienced such a large fire.
Firefighters from other parts of the country, including Havana, more than 100 kilometers away, have come to the rescue.