Airliner carrying 110 crashes in Cuba

‘High number of people’ have died, says country’s president

HAVANA — A Cuban-operated airliner with 110 people on board crashed into a field just after takeoff from Havana’s international airport Friday.

There appeared to be mass casualties. Cuban officials said three people had survived but did not give an official toll.

A military officer who declined to provide his name said that there were three survivors in critical condition from the Cubana airlines flight, but other officials would not confirm that figure. State media reported similar figures, but Cuban officials did not explicitly say that everyone else on board had perished in the crash just after noon Friday.

“There is a high number of people who appear to have died,” Cuban President Miguel DiazCanel said from the scene. “Things have been organized, the fire has been put out, and the remains are being identified.”

Firefighters worked to extinguish flames engulfing the Boeing 737, which was meant to be on a short jaunt to the eastern Cuban city of Holguin when it went down just after takeoff from Jose Marti International Airport.

“A column of black smoke rose up in the sky,” Ana Gonzalez, a nearby resident, told Reuters.

Government officials including the president rushed to the crash site, along with a large number of emergency medical workers.

Granma, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, said there were children on board, including one under two years old.

“My daughter is 24, my God, she’s only 24!” cried Beatriz Pantoja, whose daughter Leticia was on board the plane.

Pantoja and other family members were taken to a private area inside an airport terminal in the afternoon.

The cause of the air disaster was under investigation. State TV said the 39-year-old jet veered sharply to the right after takeoff.