No Survivors So Far in Sancti Spiritus Air Crash

by Enrique Ojito

No survivors have been reported so far after the tragic air crash that took place Thursday in Sancti Spiritus in which the Cuban airlines’ Aerocaribbean S.A. ATR-72-212 aircraft was involved. The plane was traveling from Santiago de Cuba to Havana.

The accident took place near the central-southern town of Guasimal, where local rescuers continue searching for possible alive passEngers. Party and governmental authorities along with members of the Cuban Ministry of Interior and the Revolutionary Armed Forces are also present in the accident location.

Sources from the Cuban Civil Aviation Institute (IACC) informed that 68 persons were traveling in the plane, 40 of whom were Cubans. The same sources added that the plane crew informed on an emergency situation Thursday around 17:42, after which they lost contact with air traffic control services.

According to the web site www.cubadebate.cu, the most tragic air craft reported during the last three decades took place September 1989, when the Il-62 plane to Milan crashed in Havana after having taken off. On that occasion all the 115 people in the plane died -two Cubans and 113 Italian tourists. Parts of the crashed airplane fell over nearby houses and killed 40 persons.