100 feared dead in plane crash

MORE than 100 people were feared dead last night after a Boeing 737 airliner crashed and exploded just after take off in Cuba.

The plane came down near Jose Marti International Airport in Havana.

The Prensa Latina news agency said the plane was carrying 104 passengers and nine foreign crew.

Three passengers were in a critical condition after surviving the crash, the state-run newspaper Granma reported.

Witnesses in the airport departure lounge watched clouds of thick black smoke billow from the crash scene.

The airliner had been leased by state airline Cubana de Aviacion from Mexican company Damojh, Cuba’s director of air transport said.

State TV said it was an internal flight from the Cuban capital to Holguin in the east of the island.

Images showed the wreckage of the plane and smoke near the crash site. “A column of black smoke rose up in the sky,” said local resident Ana Gonzalez.

Fire crews and ambulances rushed to the scene, while locals were also helping.

Flight tracking websites indicated the flight was CU972, departing Havana at 11am local time. “It crashed between the locality of Boyeros and the village of Santiago de La Vegas,” staterun TV said.

Cuban president Miguel DiazCanel, who was sworn in last month, was last night at the scene of the tragedy.