MINFAR announces 13 dead in explosions in Holguín province

Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR) officially declared the death of the 13 people who were missing after an accident on January 7 in an army depot.

Below is the full text of the note that MINFAR posted on X.

As has been reported, in the early morning of January 7, 2025, an accident occurred in a building storing war material belonging to the Holguin Military Region of the Eastern Army.

From the very outset, Party and Government leaders, the top chiefs of the Military Region and of the Army General Staff, as well as of the Ministry of the Interior, joined by a MINFAR commission charged with the relevant investigation, went to the scene of the events and, after days of intense work, concluded that the accident was likely to have been caused by an electrical fault that triggered a short circuit inside the facility.

Given the extreme difficulties to access the site destroyed by explosions, the effects of the accumulated gases onsite, and the possibility that the building could collapse due to structural damages, it has not been possible to reach the place where the 13 comrades who heroically fought the fire to keep it from spreading are located.

According to the conclusions of the specialists appointed by the Minister of the Armed Forces to carry out the relevant investigation, the site of the accident is inaccessible and, consequently, it is impossible that anyone may have survived.
A public announcement about the funeral services will be issued in due time.

On behalf of the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the authorities of the Party, the Government, and the comrades of the deceased, we offer their families and friends our condolences.

Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba