What happened

Lightning struck a storage tank at Cuba's main fuel storage and supertanker unloading terminal at Matanzas, triggering explosions and a fire that spread across multiple crude-oil and fuel tanks. The blaze burned for days, killed several firefighters, and caused a large environmental and economic impact. This was an accidental industrial incident, not an attack.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.