Cuba honors those who died in the Matanzas disaster
According to a VNA correspondent in Cuba, on August 19, more than 15,000 Cubans visited the Matanzas Provincial Firefighters Museum to place candles, flowers and photos in memory of the 16 people who died in the fire that broke out at the country's largest fuel depot.
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Matanzas oil port, Cuba, partially destroyed after a fire, August 10, 2022. Photo: AFP/TTXVN |
Despite the scorching heat, a long line of firefighters, soldiers and residents of Matanzas slowly marched past the Cuban flag-draped coffins to pay their respects and honor the dead. General Raúl Castro and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel led the funeral honor guard.
The funeral was held the same day with family rituals at San Carlos de Matanzas cemetery, 100 km east of the capital Havana.
Previously, Cuba declared a national day of mourning and flew its flags at half-mast on August 18 and 19 to pay tribute to those who died in the disaster. Despite using the most advanced techniques, Cuba still could not scientifically identify the remains of the 14 firefighters who died in the terrible fire, because the temperature of more than 2,000 degrees Celsius completely destroyed the DNA structure.
The fire broke out on the evening of August 5 local time when lightning struck a 50,000 m3 crude oil tank (equivalent to the size of 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools) in an industrial zone near the city of Matanzas. Smoke from the fire spread as far as the capital La Habana, 124 km away. By the morning of August 6, the fire had spread to a second tank and caused a series of large explosions, leaving many people missing and injured. Despite the coordinated efforts of many forces and international support, the fire continued to spread and destroyed 4 of the 8 tanks at the fuel depot on Matanzas Bay, one of Cuba's strategic infrastructures. This is the most serious fire in the history of this Caribbean island nation and is considered the largest natural industrial disaster ever.
