#firefighter #dies #fire #Cuban #fuel #depot
Cuban authorities said Thursday a second firefighter died fighting a days-long blaze at a fuel depot that also left nearly three dozen people missing or injured.
The 24-year-old firefighter from the east of the country had been treated in hospital for severe burns he sustained while fighting the inferno.
Another 14 missing firefighters are also feared dead, while more than 20 people are being treated in hospitals.
“A patient who was in extremely critical condition died overnight,” Health Secretary Jose Angel told Portal, quoted by the presidency’s Twitter account.
The body of a 60-year-old firefighter was found in the disaster area over the weekend.
Cuba’s fire department said on Wednesday the fire, which broke out last Friday after lightning struck one of the tanks at the depot outside the western city of Matanzas, is under control, although the flames have not been fully extinguished.
“In 48 hours it should be possible to enter the scene of the fire and recover the bodies of the missing,” said the fire department on Thursday.
Authorities said aerial surveillance flights had detected a reduction in the amount of smoke emanating from the site.
Four of the depot’s eight tanks – each with a capacity of 50 million liters (13.2 million gallons) of fuel – collapsed during the fire, which injured more than 100 people.
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#firefighter #dies #fire #Cuban #fuel #depot
