Dawn was breaking along Venezuela's coastline as workers began the routine task of unloading an oil tanker at the Tacoa Arricifes generating plant, 20 miles northwest of Caracas. Suddenly and inexplicably, a half-filled storage tank onshore caught fire. Ignited, the 20,000 tons of fuel already in the tank turned the site into an inferno. As hundreds of rescue workers converged on the scene, superheated gases in the same tank erupted, trapping rescuers in a curtain of fire. Then, 17 hours later, a second tank nearby exploded. In the searing heat one fire...
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