A fire caused by a gas leak from a domestic gas cylinder left four people in critical condition in the municipality of Unión de Reyes, in Matanzas.
The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon at a residence located on General Betancourt Street in that town, according to an initial report from the Radio Unión Matanzas station on Facebook, which claimed not to know the causes of the explosion and the health status of the injured.
However, the pro-government profile "Con Todos La Victoria" published a more detailed account of the event, in which it claimed that the four victims were "in extremely critical condition due to the complexity of the burns," according to a medical report issued at noon on Thursday by the management of the Comandante Faustino Pérez Provincial Hospital in the city of Matanzas.
The four injured individuals, two women and two men, were referred to that healthcare center after receiving first aid at the main emergency polyclinic José Machado, located in the municipal seat of Unión de Reyes.
In the comments section of the Radio Unión Matanzas publication, a neighbor identified the injured as Silvia Oliva, her sister Odalys, Leonel Cedeño, and Rubén Brito. "They are very well-known and beloved people in our town," she stated.
Until the moment of publishing this note, the evolution of the injured has not been disclosed.
After the fire broke out, specialized forces from Fire Brigade Command number 8 of Unión de Reyes "promptly arrived at the scene and immediately controlled the fire", preventing it from spreading to other houses.
The profile "Con Todos La Victoria" blamed the family for the incident. According to their version, the event "occurred in the kitchen of the house, due to a gas leak from a gas canister that they had at home since the day before, and yesterday they lit charcoal a few meters away from it, which immediately ignited and began to spread."
However, several people questioned what was stated by the website, accusing it of distorting the truth of the facts.
According to what they said, the gas cylinder was bought by the family that same day, around 11 in the morning - and not the day before as the profile claimed - and it was placed in the dining room, without being installed.
"They must be more careful when exposing false information on social media, first of all, they must respect those people who are fighting for their lives today," said a user named Maday Armenteros. "Due to a leak from the bottom of the cylinder, the gas leak caused an accumulation of that product in the room, and that is the reason for the fire. There is a charcoal burner in the yard six meters away from where the cylinder was located, which was already turned off."
Armenteros stated that "patients, so far, have received the best of care at Faustino Pérez Hospital, the family is grateful for the care, dedication, and communication they maintain with the relatives."
Another young woman, identified as Eliany Hernández, reacted angrily to the publication: "It is because of this amount of ignorant people who make sensationalist news at their convenience that things are getting worse every day. Get informed before reporting anything to the population, it seems unbelievable that you would lend yourselves to telling lies knowing that there are many people who will react to your publication."
Hernández emphasized regarding the tragic event: “Firstly, I want to inform you that the gas cylinder was purchased around 10:30 in the morning from a state entity, which is supposed to have gone through a quality control process as it is intended for sale to the public, but apparently this is a process that is not being followed. Due to this negligence, there are now four members of the same family fighting for their lives in the hospital.”
Let's not make everyone believe that it was all the family's fault, that the gas canister was bought the day before. Please, let's not deceive people anymore and if you are going to report news, tell the truth and respect it," the young woman warned.
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