CUBA MOURNS 107 KILLED IN PLANE CRASH
40-year-old Boeing 737 crashed shortly after taking off from Havana airport
CUBA begins two days of national mourning yesterday for victims of the crash of a state airways plane that killed all but three of its 110 passengers and crew.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel said an investigation was under way into Friday’s crash of the nearly 40-year-old Boeing 737, leased to the national carrier Cubana de Aviacion by a Mexican company.
Three women pulled alive from the mangled wreckage are the only known survivors.
The Boeing crashed shortly after taking off from Jose Marti airport, coming down in a field and sending a thick column of acrid smoke into the air.
The mourning period is to last from 6am yesterday to midnight today, the Communist Party leader and former president Raul Castro said.
Flags are to be flown at halfmast throughout the country.
The plane was on an internal flight from the capital here to the eastern city of Holguin. Most of the passengers were Cuban, with five foreigners, including two Argentines, among them.
The plane, carrying 104 passengers, was almost completely destroyed in the crash and subsequent fire. Firefighters raced to the scene to put out the blaze, along with a fleet of ambulances to assist any survivors.
What appeared to be one of the wings of the plane was wedged among scorched tree trunks, but the main fuselage was almost entirely destroyed.
Mexico said it was sending two civil aviation specialists to help in the investigation. The six crew members were Mexican nationals.
The Diaz-Canel, 58, who succeeded Castro as the communist island’s leader only last month, appeared aghast as he surveyed the recovery efforts, wearing a short-sleeved green shirt and surrounded by officials.
The plane took off from Havana at 12.08pm on Friday, heading for Holguin, 670km to the east.
From the supermarket where he works near the airport, Jose Luis, 49, said he could see the plane taking off before it banked and plunged to the ground.
“I saw it taking off. All of a sudden, it made a turn, and went down. We were all amazed,” he said.
Musician Yasniel Diaz, 21, said the pilot appeared to attempt an emergency landing, but crashed instead.
“The explosion shook everything,” he said.
“I started running, I was so afraid.”
Images from Cuban television showed rescue workers at the scene removing what appeared to be a survivor on a stretcher as rain began to fall.