Over 100 Passengers Lost Their Lives After Airplane Crash Near Havana Airport!

A Boeing 737 airplane which belonged to Cuba’s National Airline, Cubana De Aviacion, crashed on Friday morning near the Jose Martin International Airport in Havana, taking the lives of more than 110 people onboard.

Here are the details of the incident –

• Cubana de Aviacion flight CU972 was to depart from Havana at 11 a.m. and reach Holguin at around 12:20 p.m.
• Shortly after take-off, the plane crashed between the Jose Martin International Airport and Santiago de Las Vegas which is near Havana.
• The Airplane had 114 people, including the crew, onboard when the unfortunate incident happened.
• Almost all the passengers were Cuban except 5 passengers and the crew, who were all foreign nationals.
• According to the reports, the aircraft started losing height shortly after take-off and crashed into the woodlands near the airport.
• Only 4 passengers, all women, survived the crash, however, one woman lost her life shortly after reaching the hospital. The other 3 women were in critical condition but are out of danger for now.
• The Cubana aircraft was leased from a Mexican airline, Aerolineas Damojh.
• Authorities believe that the airplane crashed because it was an old aircraft. The Boeing 737 was built in 1979, making it around 39 years old.
• It was first flown by the US airline, Piedmont, in 1979, and had flown for many other carriers over the years.

According to witnesses present in the area during the incident, they heard a huge explosion and saw a huge cloud of smoke go up.

Firefighters rushed to crash site to put out the fire. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel visited the crash site as soon as the incident was reported. A large number of ambulances and medical workers were deployed immediately.

Cubana de Aviacion has been removing old airplanes from its fleet in recent months because of mechanical problems however they have been heavily criticized due to frequent flight delays and cancellations.

Cuba had a record of no airplane crashes for 18 years however over the past 3 years the island country has seen 4 fatal airplane accidents.