Sources: At least 18 injured by fire at Venezuelan La Salina oil terminal

Sources familiar with the operations of Venezuela's La Salina Oil Terminal said that at least 18 people, including workers, neighbours and firefighters, were reported injured by a fire in a crude oil storage tank.

The fire started early on in the morning during a thunderstorm and raged through the afternoon. The facility is near Cabimas, a western city on the shores of Lake Maracaibo, and is operated by the state oil company PDVSA.

One of the sources stated that "they are calculating 18 injured people including firefighters from Cabimas (workers), PDVSA and locals."

PDVSA has not responded to a comment request.

According to video footage, firefighters said that they had been working on Tuesday to control and suffocate balls of flames, which were leaving a plume of thick black smoke.

Two sources confirmed that neighbors heard an explosion later. They added that foam was used to extinguish oil fires of this type.

Another source confirmed that there was a boil-over. "That's exactly what you see on the videos."

Sources close to the operations confirmed that the Bajo Grande Terminal, which is used by PDVSA, U.S. producers Chevron and PDVSA to export crude oil and fuel, had not been affected by this incident. Reporting by Mircely Goniapa, Tibisay Romaro, and Deisy Btrago; Writing by Marianna Parra;

(source: Reuters)