Havana • A Cuban-operated airliner with at least 110 people on board crashed into a cassava field just after takeoff from Havana’s international airport on Friday. There appeared to be mass casualties as Cuban officials said three people had survived, but had yet to give an official toll.
Authorities said there were 104 passengers and nine foreign crew members on the flight, operated by Cubana de Aviacion. An employee of a Mexican charter firm said the plane belonged to the company and it had a six-person Mexican crew.
Residents of the rural site of the crash a short distance from the end of the runway told The Associated Press they saw some survivors being taken away in ambulances, and a military officer who declined to provide his name said there were three survivors in critical condition from the Cubana airlines flight.