737 Plane Crashes at Havana Airport

A Cubana Airlines flight has crashed after takeoff on Friday at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport, Cuban state media reports.

Officials said 104 passengers were on board the Boeing 737, according to Agence France Presse. Cuban President Manual Diaz-Canel, who was sworn in last month, said there was a high number of casualties.

The flight was heading to the Cuban city of Holguin, about 500 miles east of the Cuban capital. Cuban state media originally reported that the flight was bound for Guyana.

Witnesses told CBS News that billowing smoke was visible from the airport.

The plane came to a rest in a farm field where firefighters sprayed the charred fuselage with hoses. The plan lay in a field of yuca-root plants and appeared heavily damaged and burnt. Firefighters were trying to extinguish its smoldering remains.

In addition to the 104 passengers on board, nine crew members were also aboard.

Diaz-Canel rushed to the site along with a large number of emergency medical workers and ambulances. Residents of the rural area said they’d seen some survivors being taken away in ambulances.

A military officer who did not provide his name to reporters said that there appeared to have bene only three survivors in critical condition, but other officials declined to give that figure, CBS News reports.

The cause of Friday’s crash is unknown, although CNN reports that Cubana de Aviacion the national carrier, has had to ground some of its aging fleet because of safety issues. Cubana has taken many of its aging aircrafts out of service in recent months.

Cuba’s First Vice-President, Salvador Valdes Mesa, met Thursday with Cubana officials to discuss improvements in its heavily criticized service.