Airliner with 104 Passengers Crashes in Cuba, 3 Survivors

HAVANA TIMES – A commercial plane with 104 passengers and six crew members on board crashed today shortly after taking off from Havana’s international airport. The official newspaper, Granma, informed that three persons survived the accident, although they are in critical condition, reported dpa news.

The flight was scheduled to fly from Havana to the city of Holguin in the east of the island. The aircraft crashed near the Boyeros highway, in the vicinity of the airport, some 30 kilometers from the center of the Cuban capital.

Ambulances and firefighters rushed to the scene of the accident.

The director of Air Transport, Mercedes Vazquez, told the state news agency Prensa Latina that it was a flight from the Aerolineas Damojh company.

The national television reported that Damojh, based in Mexico, had been subcontracted by the Cuban airline Cubana de Aviacion to cover the route between Havana and Holguin.

In recent months, Cubana de Aviacion has removed several of its old planes from service due to mechanical problems, so it subcontracts from other companies to operate its routes.

The most serious incident of Cuban aeronautics occurred in September 1989, when an Ilushin 62 plane bound for Milan, Italy crashed in Havana shortly after taking off with 115 passengers, plus the 11 crew members.

The last plane crash in Cuba was in April 2017, when an AN-26 military plane crashed in the western part of the island with eight soldiers on board.