Cuba wonders why
Air crash probed as 3 survivors fight for life
THE ONLY three survivors of a plane crash in Cuba remained in grave condition Saturday as investigators tried to determine why an aging Boeing 737 carrying 110 people went down and erupted in flames shortly after takeoff in Havana.
It was Cuba’s worst aviation disaster in three decades and its third major air accident since 2010.
Four crash survivors were taken to a Havana hospital, and three women remained alive but in critical condition Saturday.
Five children were among the dead.
Skies were overcast and rainy at the airport at the time of Friday’s disaster, and Cuban TV said the 39-year-old jet veered sharply to the right after departing on a domestic flight to the eastern city of Holguin. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said a commission had been formed to find the cause of the crash. The plane carried 104 passengers, most of them Cubans, and six crew members.
State airline Cubana, which operated the flight, has had a generally good safety record but is notorious for delays and cancellations and has taken many of its planes out of service because of maintenance problems in recent months, prompting it to hire charter aircraft from other companies.
Mexican officials said the Boeing 737 was built in 1979 and rented by Cubana from Aerolineas Damojh, a small charter company that also goes by the name Global Air. Authorities in Guyana last year stopped the same aircraft from conducting charter flights because of safety concerns.
Flight 972 went down just after noon a short distance from the end of the runway at Jose Marti International Airport.
Firefighters rushed to extinguish the flames that engulfed the debris left where the jet hit the ground in a cassava field.
Relatives of those aboard were ushered into a private area at the terminal to await word on their loved ones. “My daughter is 24, my God, she’s only 24!” cried Beatriz Pantoja, whose daughter Leticia was on the plane.
A statement from Mexico’s Transportation Department identified the pilot and co-pilot as Capt. Jorge Luis Nunez Santos and First Officer Miguel Angel Arreola Ramirez. It said the flight attendants were Maria Daniela Rios, Abigail Hernandez Garcia and Beatriz Limon. Global Air said maintenance worker Marco Antonio Lopez Perez was also aboard.
In addition to the Mexican crew, the Cuban newspaper Granma reported the passengers were mostly Cubans plus five foreigners from countries it did not identify.
Argentina said two of its citizens were killed.