The crash of a Boeing 737 in Havana

Boeing 737-201 Advanced belonged to the Mexican airline Global Air (also known as Aerolineas Damojh ) and at the time of the disaster was listed on the lease of the Cuban airline Cubana de Aviación ^{[6] [7]} . A few months before the crash, the Cuban airline decommissioned several of its aircraft, citing technical problems, and has since used leasing ^{[8] [9]} .

The crashed Boeing 737-201 Advanced was released in July 1979 and has been in operation for about 39 years ^[10] . Initially, the airliner belonged to Old Piedmont Airlines , later it served airlines in Canada , Chile , Cameroon , Benin , Indonesia and the Caribbean ; The US Navy was operated for 5 years, after which Global Air was acquired in 2013 ^[11] . A Mexican company statement said the aircraft successfully passed a government inspection in November 2017 ^[12] .

The aircraft carried out the domestic flight Havana - Holguin (CU972) and held its way to Frank Pais Airport in eastern Cuba. A total of 113 people were on board the airliner (107 passengers and six crew members ^[2] ). The crew of the liner consisted of six people:

• The aircraft commander (FAC) is Jorge Nunez Santos ( Spanish: Jorge Nuñez Santos ).
• The co - pilot is Miguel Arreola Ramirez ( Spanish: Miguel Arreola Ramírez ).
• Flight attendants :
  • Marco Lopez Pérez ( Spanish Marco López Pérez ),
  • Maria Rios Rodríguez ( Spanish: María Ríos Rodríguez ),
  • Abigail Hernandez García ( Spanish: Abigail Hernández García ),
  • Guadalupe LimonGarcia ( Spanish: Guadalupe LimonGarcia ) ^{[13] [14]} .

Five passengers were foreigners, it is known that on board were two Argentines; the remaining passengers had Cuban citizenship. The crew consisted of Mexicans ^[14] .

The plane took off from Havana airport after 12:00 local time and crashed at 12:08, about 10 kilometers from the airport ^[9] . Witnesses noted that after takeoff the plane made an unusual maneuver ^[12] . The plane crashed to the farm, there were no casualties on the ground ^[9] . A witness from the ground said that one of the engines caught fire before the plane crashed ^[12] . After the fall, a fire started, at the crash site a column of smoke was clearly visible ^[15] . Immediately after the disaster, firefighters and ambulance crews were sent to the crash site ^[9] . After a plane crash, Jose Marti International Airport suspended work, returning to normal operation only in the afternoon ^[9] .

Of the 113 passengers on board, three women survived: all of them were in critical condition ^[16] , one of them died in the hospital ^[12] . After 3 days, another survivor died in the hospital ^[17] . The remaining 110 people died on the spot.

Cuban State Council Chairman Miguel Diaz-Canel , Minister of Health Roberto Morales and local authorities arrived at the crash site to monitor the rescue effort ^{[12] [15]} . The family and relatives of the victims also arrived at the crash site, from where they were later taken to the airport ^[15] .

Cuba plans to launch an investigation into the crash the next day. The National Transportation Safety Council and the US Federal Aviation Administration offered the Cuban authorities assistance in investigating the crash. ^[18] Boeing said it was ready to send a technical team to Cuba “in accordance with US law and as directed by the US National Transportation Safety Council and the Cuban authorities” ^[19] .

The crash of the Boeing 737 is the first major commercial plane crash in Cuba after the crash of an ATR 72 in Guasimal in 2010 ^[15] . In terms of the number of victims, the crash of Boeing 737 in Havana was surpassed only by the disaster of IL-62 in Havana on September 3, 1989, of which 150 people were killed; thus, this catastrophe became the second deadliest in the history of Cuba. The previous plane crash involving a Boeing 737-200 took place in Islamabad in 2012: then, when approaching, the plane collided with houses, 127 people died ^[20] .

From 6:00 on May 19 to 12:00 on May 20, official mourning was declared in Cuba, flags were lowered at Cuban military facilities and government institutions ^[18] .

According to the first data from the Cuban media, the Boeing 737-400 Blue Panorama crashed, but after several hours it turned out that the Global Air Boeing 737-201, built in 1979, actually crashed. ^[21]

Relatives of the victims were called to Havana to carry out an identification procedure, accompanied by the National Revolutionary Police of Cuba ^[22] .

On board the crash plane were two pilots, four cabin crew (all from Mexico) and 107 passengers. The Government of Argentina confirmed the presence of its citizens on board: Dora Beatriz Cifuentes de Almara ( Spanish Dora Beatriz Cifuentes De Almara ) and Oscar Hugo Almara ( Spanish Oscar Hugo Almara ); both were in Cuba as tourists ^[22] . The Mexican Communications and Transport Secretariat has issued a statement listing the full list of flight passengers and crew.