Over 100 dead in Cuba plane crash
MORE than 100 people are feared dead after a passenger jet crashed and exploded in Cuba moments after take-off yesterday.
The Boeing 737, which was carrying 104 passengers and nine crew, crashed around 2pm in a field near Jose Marti International Airport in Havana. It was reported that three people had survived but were in critical condition in hospital.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel, attended the crash site along with a emergency medical workers and relatives of passengers believed to have been on the Cubana flight.
Among them was a man who said that his wife and niece had been aboard. He was taken to an airline terminal where relatives were being asked to gather.
Ana Gonzalez, who lives nearby, said: ‘A column of black smoke rose up in the sky.’
The plane is understood to have been leased by Cubana, which has taken many of its ageing planes out of service in recent months because of mechanical problems. Officials said the plane was headed to the city of Holguin in eastern Cuba. President Diaz-Canel said: ‘There has been an unfortunate aviation accident. The news is not very promising, it seems there is a high number of victims.’
The crash was Cuba’s third major accident since 2010. Last year, a military plane crashed into a hillside in the province of Artemisa and eight soldiers on board died.
In November 2010, an Aero-Caribbean flight from Santiago to Havana went down in bad weather as it flew over central Cuba, killing all 68 people on board.