A fire caused by a lightning storm broke out at Venezuela’s Puerto la Cruz refinery on Monday, leaving a tall plume of black smoke, according to government officials and sources. The incident left no injuries, but the flames had not been extinguished and workers were removed from the facility, located on Venezuela’s eastern coast, according to oil minister Tareck El Aissami.
For his part, Venezuela’s deputy minister for Risk Management and Civil Protection, Carlos Perez, said that firefighters and other crews were on site fighting the flames, which began at a residual deposit in the refinery.