UPD 23:00 All passengers and crew members of the plane that crashed near the capital of Cuba are foreign citizens. This was reported on the website of the Cuban newspaper Granma. According to her information, there were a total of 105 people on board, including five children. Previously, information was received about 113 passengers and crew members. Meanwhile, several people survived the disaster. However, as Reuters reports, one of them has already died from burns in the hospital. Two more victims remain in hospital in serious condition. The Boeing was leased by Cuban Airlines from a Mexican carrier and was piloted by a foreign crew. The plane was performing domestic flight to the east of Cuba. After takeoff, the ship crashed onto agricultural fields near the first terminal of the airport. Jose Marti.

A local airline's Boeing 737 crashed during takeoff at Havana airport. The number of deaths is still unknown, but Cuban authorities have already warned that we are most likely talking about numerous victims.

For unknown reasons, the plane crashed to the ground almost immediately after takeoff from José Martí Airport in Havana. The aircraft was heading to the city of Holguin in eastern Cuba. The Boeing was leased by Cubana de Aviacion from the Mexican Damojh and was piloted by a foreign crew, writes the Cubadebate portal.

According to various sources, there were 104 or 107 passengers and crew on board. There are survivors of the crash - local residents told The Associated Press that they saw victims being transported in ambulances. Rescue services are working at the scene of the tragedy, and the country's leader Miguel Diaz Canel arrived there.

The Russian Consulate General is finding out whether there were citizens of our country on board the plane.


Cuban leader Miguel Diaz-Canel


Photo by AFP

VILNIUS, May 19 - Sputnik. The flight engineer serving the flight that took off earlier from the Boeing 737 that crashed in Cuba suggested that the cause of the disaster could be a technical failure, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the Cuban portal Cubadebate.

“13 minutes before it fell, our crew, operating another domestic flight of Cubana airlines, flew to the province of Santiago de Cuba. We communicated with them via radio while taxiing to the runway... Today [Friday], around 11 am, we, members of the two crews, met in the terminal service area (Havana airport) to have lunch and exchange a few words before the flight.We will not meet again - apparently due to a technical glitch that occurred in aircraft" said a flight engineer named Joanner.

Boeing 737 crash near Havana

On Friday, a Boeing 737 flying from Havana to Holguin crashed shortly after takeoff. As eyewitnesses told local media, the plane tried to return to the airport, but crashed into power lines.

© AFP 2020 / YAMIL LAGE

According to the Mexican company Global Air, from which Cubana de Aviacion leased the plane, there were 110 people on board. Among the passengers were five foreigners, two of them citizens of Argentina, the rest were Cubans.

It is noted that the crashed plane was 39 years old, but it had all the necessary permits.

Local media reported four survivors of the plane crash. Three women were taken to hospital in serious condition, the man died on the way.

In connection with the tragedy, the Cuban authorities declared mourning.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite expressed condolences to the people of Cuba. The authorities of Russia, Venezuela, Spain, Mexico, and France also sent condolences.

There were more than a hundred people on board

May 18. An ordinary day in the capital of hot and joyful Cuba was overshadowed by a terrible tragedy. Around noon, a passenger airliner crashed near José Marti Airport, which is located near Havana.

The Sun was one of the first to report the terrible tragedy. According to him, the plane crashed immediately after takeoff at 12:30 local time (the difference with Moscow is nine hours).

As Region Online found out, a terrible tragedy happened to. Many Russians glued themselves to their television screens and began scrolling through news feeds. This is because there could have been tourists on board this plane, including Russian ones.

Chronology of the fall

The Boeing-737-200 airliner, leased from the Mexican company Damojh by the Cubana de Aviacion air carrier, was supposed to take off from international airport Jose Marti at half past one and head to the east of Cuba, to the city of Holguin. It was a domestic flight, but tourists could also fly on it.

Russian citizens could be on board crashed plane, - emphasized the Russian Embassy in Cuba.

This message alarmed the people of our country. The tragedy that occurred in Cuba could no longer pass by the Russians.

According to various sources, there were from 103 to 109 passengers and crew members on board the plane. Immediately after takeoff, the plane began to descend and fell to the ground. Plumes of smoke were visible from Havana itself. It is not surprising, because the crash site was only 30 kilometers from the Cuban capital.

It is noteworthy that the tragedy could have become even worse, because the plane almost fell on the campus. Thus, students from a Cuban school live in close proximity to the crash site.

Numerous photos and images immediately appeared on the network. The footage from the Havana-Holguin plane shows that the scattering of fragments was not very large - the reason for this was that the plane began to fall immediately after takeoff.

Emergency services arrived at the scene. Already from the initial data it was clear that people could survive the plane crash.

What happened after?

Dozens of specialists arrived at the scene of the incident almost instantly, but by that time local residents had also arrived. The photo from the scene of the tragedy shows that a whole crowd had gathered not far from the burning plane. The police had to form a cordon.


Together with the emergency services, Cuban leader Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez also went to the scene of the tragedy. He was the first to report that there were many casualties as a result of the disaster. Then the Russian Embassy in Cuba began checking information about whether there were.

The first versions about the reasons for the fall immediately appeared. Previously, . Journalists found out that the airline operating the flight Havana - Holguin used old planes. Thus, the Boeing that crashed in Cuba operated for about 10 years.

At the same time, information began to emerge that survivors had been found among the wreckage of the Havana-Holguin plane that crashed in Cuba.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing people being taken away in ambulances from the crash site. Information about this was quickly confirmed.


It turned out that as a result of a plane crash. Every effort was made to save them. They were given all the necessary assistance and hospitalized, as eyewitnesses said.

One of the three survivors of the plane crash later died in hospital. At the same time, it became clear that there were at least five children among the dead. The surviving passengers are in serious condition.

Consequences

As a result, more than a hundred people died in a plane crash in Cuba, including several children. The Russian Embassy is still checking information about Russian citizens on board the crashed Havana-Holguin plane. Previously, there were no Russians on the Boeing.

However, the information about the tourists on board was confirmed - there were citizens of Italy and Germany on the plane.

Representatives of the Russian consulate expressed condolences to the families of those killed in this terrible tragedy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also addressed the Chairman of the State Council of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, and the families of the victims of the plane crash with condolences.

The head of the Russian state conveyed words of sympathy and support to the families and friends of the victims, as well as wishes for a speedy recovery to those who managed to survive this disaster, the Kremlin press service reported.

In the near future, new information will appear about how the Havana-Holguin plane crashed in Cuba. In the meantime, people experiencing the tragedy have to be content with the grains of available information.

Igor STEBLINOV

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has already expressed his condolences in connection with the plane crash in Havana. He sent a telegram to the Chairman of the State Council and Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, the Kremlin press service reported. “The head of the Russian state conveyed words of sympathy and support to the families and friends of the victims, as well as wishes for a speedy recovery to those who managed to survive this disaster,” the telegram says. Let us remind you that only two managed to survive.

The Boeing 737 is the most popular passenger aircraft in the history of the passenger aircraft industry. In March of this year, the ten-thousandth aircraft of this manufacturer was put into operation. The model has been produced since 1967. On average, there are an average of 1,200 aircraft in the air at any given time and one Boeing 737 takes off and lands every five seconds around the world.

According to updated data, the plane crashed into agricultural fields between the José Martí airport and the Havana suburb of Santiago de las Vegas.

One of the survivors of a passenger Boeing crash in Cuba died of burns in a Havana hospital, Reuters reports, citing a hospital representative. Two other survivors are in serious condition.

The city of Holguin, where the plane was heading, is located near the famous beach resorts, the largest of which is Guardalavaca. Holguin is the fourth largest city in Cuba. The toponym has nothing to do with the popular Russian name: the city and the province are named after the discoverer of this part of the island, the Spanish captain Garcia Holguin.

The plane was leased by Cubana de Aviación to the carrier Global, writes the Cuban newspaper Granma. There were a total of 105 people on board, including passengers and crew. There were six children among the passengers, two of them under two years old.

The Boeing 737 that crashed in Cuba was in operation for 26 years. Over the years he has flown thousands of miles. Information about the technical condition of the aircraft in last years and directly on the day of the crash on this moment No.

Eyewitnesses to the plane crash share details of the incident. “A second and we saw a large fireball, and then clouds of smoke spreading tens of meters above the crashed plane. The plane crashed so close to the airport that everything was visible from the windows,” said a local resident.

The preliminary version of the crash of a passenger Boeing 737 in Cuba is considered to be a technical malfunction, local media report.

The three survivors of the plane crash are hospitalized in critical condition. This was reported by AFP with reference to state media.

The Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) called it unlikely that there could have been Russians on board the plane that crashed in Cuba.

“Large tour operators do not take tourists from Havana to Holguin, although there are niche companies. The likelihood that there could be Russians on board the plane is very low,” a representative of the association told Interfax.

On May 18, 2018, while a Boeing 737 passenger airliner belonging to the Cubana de Aviacion carrier was flying from Havana to Holguin, a tragic plane crash occurred. The plane crashed just a few kilometers from where it took off, killing more than a hundred people.

Chronicle of the Boeing 737 Cubana de Aviacion plane crash in Cuba

As follows from the officially presented data, the passenger airliner of the Cuban airline Cubana de Aviacion was flying from Havana to Holguin ( East Coast Cubes - approx. ed.), however, just a few seconds after takeoff, the plane began to sharply lose altitude, as a result of which it hit the ground and exploded.

In fact, the plane crashed near the capital airport of Cuba, which is clearly visible in the video footage presented, but witnesses claim that there were no visual problems (smoke, flames, etc.) with the aircraft.

Due to the fact that the crash site is located relatively close to the airport, teams of firefighters, rescuers and medical aid arrived at the scene of the plane crash relatively quickly, but even despite this fact, no one managed to survive the tragedy, although the Cuban authorities did not confirm this fact for a long time.

Preliminary versions and causes of the plane crash in Cuba on May 18, 2018

Specialists involved in the investigation of the plane crash have identified mainly three main versions of the tragedy, which, however, can be confirmed or refuted only after a thorough investigation.

Engine failure

Version about refusal passenger airliner The Cubana de Aviacion Boeing 737 power unit appeared almost immediately after the tragedy, however, taking into account the fact that the plane was not overloaded and could easily fly with one functioning engine, it is logical to assume that either the version is not true, or The tragedy could also have been preceded by accompanying factors, for example, the failure of the second engine.

“If a passenger airliner was unable to gain the required speed, then if the engine fails, it will actually quickly lose speed and begin to fall.”, says the specialist.

On the other hand, according to preliminary data, the dispatcher of the capital's Cuban airport claims that the crew did not report technical problems on board.

Crew error

The version of crew error is almost always considered when investigating plane crashes, and the current tragedy was no exception. It is reported that the aircraft was flown by a foreign crew, which could very likely have been one of the circumstances of the tragedy, but only under certain conditions.

Considering the testimony of witnesses that the plane began to fall sharply, it is logical to assume that the actions of the pilots could have contributed to this

Poor quality fuel

One of the versions of the plane crash involving the Boeing 737 airliner in Cuba is also called the version of low-quality fuel in the tanks of the aircraft. No underlying factors pointing specifically to this circumstance were presented, but experts did not rule out that this version may also require careful study.

Victims and victims of the plane crash in Cuba

There are no official data on exactly how many passengers and crew members were on board the Boeing 737 passenger airliner that crashed on May 18, 2018. According to some sources, we are talking about 104 citizens, according to others about 107 (including crew members), but there is also information about that the plane could carry up to 113 people on board.

As a result of a plane crash from high altitude and the subsequent explosion, only four citizens managed to survive, two of whom subsequently died in the hospital from their wounds and injuries.