Cuba: Passenger plane crashes after taking off from Havana
May 19, 2018 - A plane with more than 110 people on board has crashed shortly after taking off from Jose Marti airport in Cuba's capital, Havana, according to state media.
The Boeing 737, which was heading to the eastern city of Holguin, crashed "near the international airport" on Friday, state agency Prensa Latina reported, Aljazeera wrote.
The aircraft carried 104 passengers and nine crew, said Prensa Latina
Local media reports said there were at least three survivors who were taken to hospital in critical condition.
"There has been an unfortunate aviation accident. The news is not very promising, it seems that there is a high number of victims," Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who visited the site, was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
Fire crews and ambulances rushed to the scene, while images posted on social media purported to show a thick column of smoke rising above the crash site.
The plane was almost completely destroyed in the crash and subsequent fire, AFP reported.
Mercedes Vazquez, Cuba's air transport director, told state media that the Boeing 737-200 plane was leased by Cubana de Aviacion from a small Mexican airline called Global Aerolineas Damohj.
Mexico's ministry of transportation said five of the crew members, including the captain and co-pilot, were Mexican nationals.
The aircraft was built in 1979, the ministry said in a statement, adding that Damojh had the necessary permits to lease the plane to Cubana.
The last fatal crash in Cuba was in 2017, the Aviation Safety Network said. It was a military flight that killed all eight personnel aboard.
In 2010, a commercial Aero Caribbean plane crashed in central Cuba. All 68 people on board were killed.