Pictured: Lightning strikes fuel depot in Cuba leaving seventeen firefighters missing

More than a dozen firefighters are missing after multiple explosions at a fuel depot in western Cuba engulfed the area in flames leaving more than 70 people injured.

Authorities have blamed a lightning strike on Friday night for the incident, but the fire spread early Saturday from one fuel tank to a second, sending a huge plume of black smoke into the sky.

Emergency services were still trying to quell the blaze at the Matanzas Supertanker Base, 100 kilometres (62 miles) east of Havana last night, but some 17 firefighters have been reported missing.

At least 15 people have been taken to hospital, while nearly 1,000 have been evacuated from their homes in the area, according to regional officials.

The Facebook page of the provincial government of Matanzas said the number of injured had reached 77, while 17 people were missing. The Presidency of the Republic said the 17 were "firefighters who were in the nearest area trying to prevent the spread."

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero were supervising rescue efforts and travelled to the area on Saturday.

The accident comes as Cuba struggles with fuel shortages. There was no immediate word on how much oil had burned or was in danger at the tank farm, which stores oil used to fuel electricity production.

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

Authorities said the Dubrocq neighbourhood closest to the fire was evacuated, while Gonzalez added that some people decided to leave the Versailles district, which is a little farther from the tank farm.

The official newspaper Granma attributed the fire, which began Friday evening, to an "electric discharge" that struck a fuel tank.