Cuba asks for US help to rebuild destroyed fuel depot

Cuba has asked the United States for help in restoring a major fuel storage plant devastated by a massive fire that left 16 people dead, the island nation’s foreign ministry said on Friday.

The request was made during an online meeting Wednesday between experts from the two countries exploring “possible ways of cooperation to rehabilitate the worst-affected areas,” the ministry said.

The massive fire earlier this month started after lightning struck a tank at the depot outside the western city of Matanzas, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Havana.

Four of the eight tanks at the depot -- each with the capacity to hold 52 million liters of fuel -- collapsed during the blaze, which injured 132 people. All 16 people killed were firefighters tackling the inferno.

The damage to Cuba’s largest such storage facility has badly affected Cuba’s ability to store crude.