Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said today that solidarity aid continues coming to the country to control the fire in the industrial zone of the province of Matanzas.

Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and president of the country, called today admirable the performance of the helicopter pilots of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), who have flown over the darkest and hottest area of the fire in the industrial zone of Matanzas.

A third fuel tank at the Matanzas supertanker base collapsed after the second tank spilled, further compromising the situation.

Governments, solidarity groups, organizations and Cubans living abroad are sending messages of support to Cuba after the large-scale fire in the industrial zone of Matanzas province.

The collapse of the wall of the second tank set on fire in the industrial zone of this city was made visible through the flight of a drom, and it was clarified that the third one is not on fire, informed Williams Gonzalez Hernandez, head of the Civil Defense group in Matanzas.

A team of specialists is here to complement the colleagues who are at the site of the fire, said Alejandro Valdez, an expert from Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) who arrived today in this city along with eight other experienced personnel.

New aid cargo arrived in the province of Matanzas from Mexico and Venezuela as part of a contribution in solidarity to cope with the large fire currently blazing in the province’s Supertanker Base.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla thanked the expressions of solidarity and messages of support sent by Cubans living abroad in view of the fire that began Friday at the Matanzas Supertank Base.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez praised the efforts of the firefighters, first responders and workers engaged in the struggle to quell the blaze in the industrial zone of this city in highly dangerous conditions.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez met with the chiefs of the aid teams sent by Mexico and Venezuela to help put out the fire at the Matanzas supertanker base and thanked their governments, particularly their presidents Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Nicolás Maduro.

Luis Wong Corrales, provincial director of Health in Matanzas province, informed at a press conference that 85 patients affected by last Friday's fire in this city have been discharged from the hospital, out of the 121 treated so far.

Conviasa flight A 340 arrived Saturday night in this city with solidarity aid sent by the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to fight the large-scale fire, still uncontrolled, at the supertanker base.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez expressed deep gratitude to the governments of Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Nicaragua, Argentina and Chile, which have promptly offered material solidarity aid to Cuba in the face of the fire taking place in the western province of Matanzas.

Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, Cuba's deputy foreign minister, thanked the expressions of help from organizations and individuals from the United States, and the offer of technical advice from the government to confront the fire in the city of Matanzas.

As of 10 a.m. this Saturday, August 6, local time, 17 firefighters are reported missing and 67 people injured in a major oil tank fire at the Matanzas Supertanker Base, 90 kilometers east of Havana.