Three Women Have Survived the Deadly Air Crash in Havana

Three people have survived after an aging Boeing 737 with 110 people aboard crashed and burned shortly after taking off from Havana airport.

Skies were overcast and rainy at the airport at the time of Friday’s disaster and Cuban state television said the 39-year-old jet veered sharply to the right after departing on a domestic flight to the eastern city of Holguin.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said a special commission had been formed to find the cause of the crash. The plane had 104 mainly Cuban passengers and six crew members.

Cubana Flight 972 went down just after noon a short distance from the end of the runway at Jose Marti International Airport.

Firefighters rushed to extinguish the flames that engulfed the debris left where the jet hit the ground in a cassava field. Four crash survivors were taken to a Havana hospital, and three remained alive as of late Friday.

A statement from Mexico’s Transportation Department identified the pilot and co-pilot as Captain Jorge Luis Nunez Santos and first officer Miguel Angel Arreola Ramirez.

It said the flight attendants were Maria Daniela Rios, Abigail Hernandez Garcia and Beatriz Limon. Global Air said maintenance worker Marco Antonio Lopez Perez was also aboard.

Mexican aviation authorities said a team of experts would fly to Cuba on Saturday to take part in the investigation.