Cuban oil tank fire leaves 1 dead, injures 121 after lighting strikes fuel storage facility

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On Friday evening in Cuba, lightning struck one of eight storage tanks at an oil storage facility 97 km east of Havana, igniting a massive oil-fed fire that burned through the night. The heat from the blaze spread to a second tank on Saturday, and the wind blew flames dangerously close to a third.

Thick plumes of smoke and fire continued to burn near Cuba's supertanker port in Matanzas throughout Saturday. A video released by the Cuban government showed the moment when a fuel storage tank erupted into a massive fireball, and a massive black smoke cloud rose into the sky.

Cuban authorities said at least 121 people were injured in the second blast, of which 36 remained hospitalized, five in critical condition. One person was listed as dead, and 17 firefighters were unaccounted for. More than 1,000 civilians have been evacuated from the area.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel first visited the scene late on Friday night, returning again on Saturday morning as state-run live television broadcasted the unfolding disaster. The loss of fuel and storage capacity is likely to aggravate Cuba's existing situation of daily blackouts and fuel shortages

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