Two workers died and two more were injured due to a collapse inside a chimney while carrying out maintenance work at a thermoelectric plant in the Matanzas province, in western Cuba, authorities said.
According to official media, the incident occurred on Friday afternoon when the internal wall of at least seven meters collapsed in the chimney, trapping the workers under rubble and soot at the Antonio Guiteras Power Plant, some 150 kilometers to the east. from Havana.
Initially, two injured people were rescued, but not seriously; then the lifeless body of a third party was found and finally on Saturday afternoon the body of another of the workers was recovered.
Authorities said it was necessary to open a hole on the outside of the chimney to continue rescue efforts. Rescue workers and firefighters removed tons of soot and debris from the site on Saturday.
The director of the Central, Misbel Palmero, indicated that teams were brought in that were assigned to remove debris from the Hotel Saratoga in Havana, which exploded in May of last year with a balance of more than 40 deaths.
The idea, the official explained, was to break the outer wall of the chimney to carry out the rescues —especially the body of the worker who was missing for almost 24 hours— without damaging the rest of the structure.
It is not clear why the inner wall of the chimney collapsed.
The Antonio Guiteras Power Plant is one of the most important in the country in terms of electricity generation, a sector considered very sensitive at this time in Cuba due to power cuts that affect both the population and production on the island.