Seven were missing, 121 were hurt, and one was dead in the fire at the Cuban oil facility.

A fire created by a lightning strike at an oil storage facility fumed unruly in the Cuban city of Matanzas. Four bursts and flames injured 121 people and left 17 firefighters missing. Cuban officials said an unidentified body had been found late Saturday.

The official Cuban News Agency reported that the lightning hit one tank, starting a fire, and the fire later extended to a second tank. As military helicopters passed overhead, dropping water on the fire, a thick column of jet smoke billowed from the facility and dispersed westward more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) toward Havana.

The government said it had requested assistance from international experts in “friendly countries” with knowledge in the oil sector. Minutes later, President Miguel Díaz-Canel thanked Venezuela, Mexico, Russia, Nicaragua, Argentina, and Chile for their offers of support. A support flight from Mexico was reached Saturday night.

The accident comes as Cuba stumbles with fuel shortages. There was no primary information on how much quantity of oil had fumed or was in hazard at the storage facility, which has eight oversized tanks that have oil used to fulfill the fuel needs of the electricity generating plants.

Local meteorologist Elier Pila displayed satellite images of the area with a dense plume of jet smoke proceeding from the point of the fire westward and advancing east to Havana.

Many ambulances, police, and fire engines were seen in the streets of Matanzas, a city with about 140,000 inhabitants that is on Matanzas Bay.