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Storage tanks were still ablaze Monday after a gas leak caused a massive explosion early Saturday at the Amuay refinery in Paraguana, Venezuela’s biggest refinery. More than 40 people were killed in one of the worst accidents to hit the global oil industry in decades.Ariana Cubillos/The Associated Press

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Firefighters douse a fuel tank at Amuay on Tuesday. Officials said all fires had been extinguished after raging for more than three days.Ariana Cubillos/The Associated Press

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Rescue workers carry a victim of the explosion into an emergency hospital in Maracaibo on Saturday. There was no indication on Tuesday when the refinery’s operations, halted after the OPEC nation’s worst industrial accident in recent memory, would resume.STRINGER/VENEZUELA/Reuters

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A local family observes the fire immediately after the explosion.STRINGER/MEXICO/Reuters

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Helys Vaca holds a picture of her 15-year-old sister Jackeline, missing after the refinery explosion, at Hospital Carlos Sierra in Punto Fijo. Ms. Vaca’s mother and 10-year-old brother are among the dead.STRINGER/VENEZUELA/Reuters

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Firefighters douse a smouldering fuel tank at the Amuay refinery on Tuesday. In 1997, 56 people died in a fire at India’s Visakhapatnam refinery, and in 2005, 15 in a blast at BP’s Texas City refinery.Ariana Cubillos/The Associated Press

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez talks with Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez at the refinery on Monday, after the fire had spread to a third fuel storage tank.HANDOUT/Reuters

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Mr. Chavez visits victims of the explosion, at a hospital in Paraguana, on Monday. Mr. Chavez has promised an investigation, amid opposition allegations the catastrophe was caused by lack of maintenance.HANDOUT/Reuters

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A column of smoke rises from fuel storage tanks after the explosion.STRINGER/VENEZUELA/Reuters

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A soldier guards one of the entrances of the Amuay refinery.STRINGER/Reuters

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