The US offered technical advice to Cuba after the communist state asked 'friendly countries' to help put out a huge oil depot fire

• A fire broke out at a Cuban oil facility, leaving 121 injured and 17 firefighters missing.
• Cuba asked "friendly countries" for help with the blaze, and the US offered technical advice.

The US has offered Cuba technical advice after a blaze broke out at an oil facility in the city of Matanzas, Cuban officials said.

The fire began when lightning hit a crude oil storage tank during a thunderstorm on Friday night, which then spread to a second tank, according to the Cuban News Agency.

The flames led to multiple explosions and left 121 people injured and 17 firefighters missing. One unidentified body has been found, Cuban authorities said, according to The Associated Press .

The Cuban government asked for help from international experts in "friendly countries" with oil sector experience, per the outlet.

Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío said on Twitter that the "US organizations" the US government had offered advice on putting out the fire and said the "proposal is in the hands of specialists for the due coordination."

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel thanked Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Nicaragua, Argentina, and Chile for offering aid, as well as the US for its offer of advice.

A plane from the Mexican Air Force landed in Cuba on Saturday with 60 members of the armed forces and 16 technicians to help with the fire, Mexican Brigadier General Juan Bravo Velázquez said, per a Cuban outlet.

Cuban military helicopters flew overhead to drop water on the fire, AP reported, and the head of fire operations in Matanzas said firefighters were spraying water on tanks to try and keep them cool and prevent the fire from spreading further.

Around 800 people were evacuated from the Dubrocq neighborhood near the fire, local authorities said, per AP.

"I was in the gym when I felt the first explosion. A column of smoke and terrible fire rose through the skies," local resident Adiel Gonzalez told AP. "The city has a strong smell of sulfur."

Cuba suffers from fuel shortages, and it is not clear how much oil was burned in the fire and the extent of the damage to the storage facility.

The US has operated a trade embargo against Cuba, a communist one-party state, for 60 years.