Dozens injured as lightning strike starts fire at Cuban oil storage facility

People watch a huge plume of smoke caused by a blaze after lightning struck an oil storage tank in Cuba (Ramon Espinosa/AP)

A fire set off by a lightning strike at an oil storage facility is raging in the Cuban city of Matanzas, where four explosions and flames injured nearly 80 people and left 17 firefighters missing, authorities said.

Firefighters and other specialists were still trying to quell the blaze at the Matanzas Supertanker Base, where the fire began during a thunderstorm on Friday night, the Ministry of Energy and Mines tweeted.