More than 100 dead in Cuba plane crash
A Cuban state airways plane with 104 passengers and six crew on board crashed shortly after taking off from Havana on Friday, leaving a mass of twisted and smoldering fuselage, as the country's president warned many people were feared dead.
Cuban state media reported that three women had been pulled alive from the mangled wreckage and were in critical condition in hospital. There was no other official mention of survivors from the nearly 40-year-old Boeing 737, operated by Cubana de Aviacion. It crashed into a field close to a wooded area near Jose Marti airport, sending a thick column of acrid smoke into the air.
The 110 people aboard included six Mexican crew, said the Mexico-based company that leased the plane, Global Air, also known as Aerolineas Damojh. Two victims were Argentine, the country's foreign ministry said. Most of the others were Cuban, according to state media.
The plane was almost completely destroyed in the crash and subsequent fire. Firefighters raced to the scene along with a fleet of ambulances to put out the blaze.
Emergency personnel combed through the wreckage, lending little hope that there could be other 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.
Cuba's 58-year-old President Miguel Diaz-Canel – who succeeded Raul Castro as the communist island's leader only last month – visited the scene and appeared aghast as he surveyed the recovery efforts, wearing a shortsleeved green shirt and surrounded by officials. He said an investigation into the cause of the accident was underway.
Cuba declared two days of national mourning. Raul Castro sent condolences to families of the victims of the "catastrophic accident," a statement read, as Russian President Vladimir Putin and a string of Latin American leaders also expressed sympathy.
Airport sources said the plane took off at 12:08 p.m. (1608 GMT) heading for the eastern city of Holguin, 670 kilometers (415 miles) away.
Global Air said the plane was flying with a crew of six Mexicans – the pilot, co-pilot, three flight attendants and a maintenance technician. In Mexico City, anguished relatives and colleagues of the crew gathered outside the company's offices demanding information – some of them hugging and crying.
Mexico said it had sent two civil aviation specialists to help in the investigation. The Mexican communications and transportation ministry said the plane was built in 1979. Global Air had the necessary permits to lease it, and had passed inspections in November last year, it said.
The company, formed in 1990, had a fleet of three planes, all Boeing 737s. Prior to Friday's crash, Cuba's most recent air accident occurred in April 2017, when eight military personnel died when a Russian-made AN-26 transport aircraft went down in western Cuba.
The country's last major airline disaster was in November 2010 when a Cuban Aerocaribbean jet crashed on a flight from Santiago de Cuba to Havana, killing all 68 people on board, including 28 foreigners.