At around 4am on August 6 local time (17am Vietnam time), the second oil tank in Matanzas Bay, Cuba, exploded after a fire burned all night from the first tank of oil that was hit by lightning the night before - Reuters reported.
Cuban state television said at least 77 people were injured in the second blast and 17 firefighters were missing. People have been evacuated from the area.
Cuba's health minister Jose Angel Portal Miranda announced on Twitter that among the injured, there are 3 people in critical condition, 3 people in critical condition and 12 others in critical condition.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel arrived at the scene around midnight and returned in the morning as state television broadcast live about the ongoing disaster.
Diaz-Canel president posted on Twitter before the second explosion that firefighters were " Trying to prevent the spread of the fire and any fuel spill" into Matanzas Bay.
A tweet later from his office said Cuba was consulting with friendly countries to put out the fire.
By the morning of August 6, the fire was out of control, threatening other nearby oil tanks. Smoke from the fire flew all the way to Havana.
A medical staff at the scene said over the phone that cold water was being poured into nearby tanks.
Cuba is suffering from power outages and fuel shortages. The loss of two oil reservoirs could aggravate the situation.
Jorge Pinon, director of the University of Texas at the Latin American and Caribbean Energy and Environment Program in Austin, said the area has eight large oil tanks, each with a capacity of 300,000 barrels.
He said that this area is a fuel transit point for many different thermal power plants, not just nearby, so this could be very bad news for the grid.
