THREE PEOPLE HAVE been pulled alive from the wreckage of a Cuban airliner which crashed after takeoff today with 104 passengers aboard, and are in a critical condition in hospital, state media said.
A military officer old reporters that there appears to have been only three survivors in critical condition after a Boeing 737 crashed on takeoff from Jose Marti International Airport in Havana with 104 passengers and nine crew aboard.
The officer declined to provide his name and other officials declined to confirm the figure.
The country’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who visited the crash site, warned earlier that many people were feared dead.
The Cuban state airways passenger plane crashed shortly after taking off this afternoon from Havana’s Jose Marti airport, state media reported.
The Boeing 737 operated by Cubana de Aviacion crashed “near the international airport,” state agency Prensa Latina reported.
There were no immediate reports regarding casualties.
Airport sources said the jetliner was heading from the capital to the eastern city of Holguin, and had crashed in the space between the airport in southern Havana and the nearby town of Santiago de las Vegas.
Witnesses told AFP a thick column of smoke could be seen rising above the crash site.
The plane was rented by Cubana, which has taken many of its aging planes out of service in recent months due to mechanical problems.
With AP
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