Plane crashes in Cuba killing more than 100, investigation underway

[Ulquiorra]

HAVANA, May 18 (Reuters) - More than 100 people were killed when a Boeing 737 crashed soon after taking off from Havana in what appeared to be Cuba's worst air disaster in nearly 30 years, and there were only three survivors, officials and state media said on Friday.

The passenger plane, on a domestic flight to Holguin in eastern Cuba, crashed at 12:08 p.m. (1608 GMT). There were 105 passengers, including five children, plus crew members, state media reported.

Five of the passengers and the crew were foreign, according to media reports. Two Argentine citizens and an unspecified number of Mexicans were among the dead, the Argentine and Mexican governments said.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in broadcast comments that a high number of people appeared to have been killed. He said the fire from the crash had been extinguished and authorities were identifying bodies.

Diaz-Canel said authorities were investigating the cause of the crash.

Cuba declared an official period of mourning from 6 a.m. on May 19 to 12 p.m. on May 20, during which the flag would be flown at half-mast outside state and military institutions.

Former Cuban president Raul Castro, who now heads the country's ruling Communist Party, offered his condolences to the families of those who died in the crash as he recovered from a hernia operation, State media reported

This was the first time Cuba reported on a health issue for Castro, 86, who last month handed over the reins of power to his right-hand man Diaz-Canel.

Castro "who is recovering satisfactorily from a recent planned surgery to get rid of a hernia is staying up to date on the situation and has given the relevant guidance," the Communist Party newspaper Granma reported.

Blackened wreckage of Flight CU972 was strewn over the crash site, 20 km (12 miles) south of Havana.

"We heard an explosion and then saw a big cloud of smoke go up," said Gilberto Menendez, who runs a restaurant near the crash site in the agricultural area of Boyeros.

The flight's destination, Holguin, is the capital of a province popular with tourists for its pristine beaches.

Carlos Alberto Martinez, director of Havana's Calixto Garcia hospital, told Reuters that four victims of the crash had been were brought there and one died. Three others, all women, were in a serious condition, he said.

"She is alive but very burnt and swollen," said one of the women's relatives at the hospital.

Edited May 19, 2018 by Ulquiorra