Cuba began two days of national mourning Saturday for victims of the crash of a state airways plane that killed all but three of its 113 passengers and crew.
In the first official death toll provided by authorities, Transportation Minister Adel Yzquierdo Rodriguez said 110 had died including five children.
Rodriguez says 113 people were on board including 102 Cubans, three tourists, two foreign residents and six crew members who were from Mexico. The plane was on an internal flight from Havana to the eastern city of Holguin.
The three women who survived the crash of Boeing-737 are stable but their life is still under threat, the head of the hospital on Cuba where they are being treated, Carlos Alberto Martinez, said on Saturday. Cuban officials identified the women as Maylen Diaz, 19, of Holguin; Grettel Landrovell, 23, of Havana; and Emiley Sanchez, 39, of Holguin.
The Cuban government has declared a period of mourning starting Saturday until Sunday midnight. Flags are to be flown at half-mast throughout the country.
INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said a special commission had been formed to find the cause of the crash of the nearly 40-year-old Boeing 737, leased to the national carrier Cubana de Aviacion by a Mexican company.
"Things have been organized, the fire has been put out, and the remains are being identified," he said.
Official website Cubadebate reported that a flight recorder from the plane had been located, citing Yzquierdo.
Cuba's former leader Raul Castro, who now heads the country's ruling Communist Party, said he was following the incident and sent condolences to the victims' families, according to the publication. Local media said he was still recovering from a recent hernia surgery.
Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) offered Cuba its condolences, saying they stood in solidarity with the Cuban people.
CUBANA HAS HAD GOOD SAFETY RECORD
State airline Cubana, which operated the flight, has had a generally good safety record despite the U.S. blockade. The Friday air disaster was the Cuban carrier’s first in almost 20 years.
Last month, Cubana de Aviacion's director general, Capt. Hermes Hernandez Dumas, told state media that among the difficulties created by the U.S. trade embargo Cubana's inability to acquire latest-generation aircraft with technology capable of guaranteeing the stability of aerial operations. "Another factor is obtaining parts for Cubana's aircraft," he added.
Cubana de Aviacion reportedly leased to aircraft from Mexican Airline Damojh.
The earliest Boeing 737s like the one that crashed use engines made by Pratt & Whitney, part of the U.S.-based industrial group United Technologies.
