PUNTO FIJO, Venezuela (AP) - A fire at a Venezuelan refinery spread to a third fuel tank on Monday nearly three days after a powerful explosion that killed 41 people and ignited the blaze, Vice President Elias Jaua said.
Jaua said in a message on Twitter that a third tank had just ignited at the Amuay refinery.
The refinery has been in flames since Saturday, and officials had previously said they hoped to blaze to keep diminishing until it could be extinguished.
Falcon state Gov. Stella Lugo told the Venezuelan radio station Union Radio that the death toll had risen to 48, but later said the correct number was 41 and that some victims' names had been mistakenly included twice on a list.
About 150 people were injured in the disaster, 33 of whom remain in hospitals, Prosecutor General Luisa Ortega said at a news conference at the refinery complex. "We still don't have facts to determine the causes of the accident," she said.
Criticisms of the government's response have emerged from local residents as well as oil experts. People in neighborhoods next to the refinery said they had no official warning before the explosion hit at about 1 a.m. on Saturday.
"What bothers us is that there was no sign of an alarm. I would have liked for an alarm to have gone off or something," said Luis Suarez, a bank employee in the neighborhood. "Many of us woke up thinking it was an earthquake."
The blast knocked down walls, shattered windows and left streets littered with rubble.
People who live next to the refinery said they smelled strong fumes coming from the refinery starting between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday, hours before the blast, but many said they weren't worried because they had smelled such odors before.
Then, a cloud of gas ignited in an area with fuel storage tanks and exploded. Some of the first tanks to catch fire still billowed smoke on Monday.