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Helicopters and firefighters fought Tuesday to gain access to four tanks at a fuel depot that has been burning for days, hoping to use special foam to control the blazes.
The fire that started on Friday has killed one firefighter and left 14 others missing.
From dawn, AFP reporters saw four military helicopters fly over the depot in Matanzas, an industrial city some 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Havana, dumping seawater to douse the fire.
Four of the eight tanks at the scene have already died, said deputy fire chief Alexander Avalos Jorge, and authorities are now trying to protect the other four.
“Fire crews continue to clear a path to the blaze to allow teams tasked with applying the foam to get to the site,” Matanzas Gov. Mario Sabines said on Twitter.
Sabines added that smoke from the fire has reduced visibility to a minimum and drones are being used to make operations more precise.
Firefighters and fuel fire specialists from Mexico and Venezuela have arrived in Cuba to help their colleagues on the ground.
The fire broke out in the city of 140,000 on Friday after lightning struck one of the tanks at the depot, which is strategically important for the island state.
Each of the eight tanks holds up to 50 million liters of fuel – three have collapsed and a fourth is on fire.
About 125 people injured in the fire were hospitalized, with 22 remaining on treatment. About 5,000 people were evacuated from the disaster area, authorities reported.
Two firefighters, previously reported missing, were found among those being treated at the hospital.
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