Cuba honors those who perished in the Matanzas disaster.
According to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Cuba, on August 19, more than 15,000 Cuban citizens visited the Matanzas Provincial Firefighters Museum to lay candles, flowers, and photos in remembrance of the 16 people who died in the fire at the country's largest fuel depot.
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The Matanzas oil port in Cuba was partially destroyed after a fire on August 10, 2022. Photo: AFP/VNA |
Despite the scorching heat, long lines of firefighters, soldiers, and residents of Matanzas marched slowly past coffins draped in the Cuban flag to bid farewell to and honor the deceased. General Raúl Castro and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel led the funeral honor guard.
The funeral was held on the same day with family honors at the San Carlos de Matanzas cemetery, 100 km east of the capital Havana.
Previously, Cuba declared a national day of mourning and lowered flags to half-mast on August 18 and 19 to honor those who fell while on duty in the aforementioned disaster. Despite using the most advanced techniques, Cuba was still unable to scientifically determine the exact remains of the 14 firefighters who died in the horrific fire, as temperatures exceeding 2,000 degrees Celsius completely destroyed their DNA structure.
A fire broke out on the evening of August 5th local time when lightning struck a 50,000-cubic-meter crude oil storage tank (equivalent to the size of 20 standard Olympic swimming pools) in an industrial area near the city of Matanzas. Smoke from the fire spread as far as Havana, 124 km away. By the morning of August 6th, the fire had spread to a second tank, causing a series of large explosions that left many missing and injured. Despite coordinated efforts by multiple forces and international assistance, the fire continued to spread, destroying four of the eight tanks at the fuel depot on Matanzas Bay, one of Cuba's strategic infrastructure facilities. This is the most serious fire in the history of the Caribbean island nation and is considered the largest industrial disaster of natural origin to date.