DEADLY FIREBALL

Cuba plane crash – horrifying moment plane erupts into a ball of flames after taking off in Havana killing more than 100

Three women were pulled alive from the wreckage with the rest of the 110 people on board feared dead in the fireball

HORRIFYING footage has emerged showing the moment a plane carrying 110 people exploded in a ball of flames in Cuba.

The Cabana Airways Boeing 737 was travelling from Havana to Holguin on a domestic flight when it came down just after taking off from Jose Marti International Airport.

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A fireball rises up from behind trees as the plane comes down in CubaCredit: ABC News

Footage shows a fireball rising up from behind trees as people in the street gasp with shock.

"We heard an explosion and then saw a big cloud of smoke go up," said Gilberto Menendez, who runs a restaurant near the crash site in the agricultural area of Boyeros.

The plane had 104 mainly Cuban passengers and six crew.

Three passengers, said to be women, are currently fighting for their lives in hospital and are in a “grave” condition.

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A tower of smoke rises up into the sky as people are heard gasping in shockCredit: ABC News
Credit: AFP or licensors

The plane lay in a field of yuca-root plants and appeared heavily damaged and burnt

The Boeing 737 crashed into a densley wooded area and blew upCredit: AFP or licensors
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State media reports stopped short of saying the rest on board were dead, but there was no word of other survivors.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel said: “Remains are being identified.”

The UK Foreign Office told Sun Online it was in contact with the Cuban authorities to investigate whether there were any British passengers aboard.

"We heard an explosion and then saw a big cloud of smoke go up," said Gilberto Menendez, who runs a restaurant near the crash site in the agricultural area of Boyeros, some 12 miles south of Havana.

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The airliner came down in a field and wooded area, with firefighters spraying water on its smouldering wreckage.

Bodies and parts of the aircraft have been found scattered about the area.

Government officials including President Miguel Diaz-Canel rushed to the site, along with a large number of emergency medical workers and ambulances.

Video showing the wreckage of the Boeing 737 Cubana de Aviacion airliner that reportedly crashed near Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, Cuba
One of the three survivors is rushed away to hospital after the horror crashCredit: EPA
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Fire-fighters douse down the infernoCredit: AFP or licensors
Firefighters were trying to extinguish its smouldering remainsCredit: AFP or licensors

Pictures showed survivors being ferried to ambulances before being rushed to hospital.

Relatives of passengers rushed to the scene, among them a man who said his wife and niece had been on board.

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He declined to provide his full name before he was taken to an airline terminal where relatives were being asked to gather.

"My daughter is 24, my God, she's only 24!" cried Beatriz Pantoja, whose daughter Leticia was on board the plane.

One of the wings of the plane can be seen wedged between treesCredit: AFP or licensors
Credit: AFP or licensors
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Emergency personnel rush to the crash sites

Another bit of plane was found on railway tracksCredit: AP:Associated Press
A map shows where the plane went down

Carlos Alberto Martinez, director of Havana's Calixto Garcia hospital, said four victims of the crash had been were brought there and one died.

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A relative of one survivor said: "She is alive but very burnt and swollen."

The Boeing 737-201 aircraft was built in 1979 and leased by Cuban airline Cubana from a small Mexican company called Damojh, according to the Mexican government.
Damojh in Mexico said it did not immediately have any more information. Cubana declined to comment.

Cuba's new president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, arrives at the sceneCredit: AFP or licensors
The president received a briefing from emergency staffCredit: AFP or licensors
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Black smoke marks the spot where the passenger airliner smashed into the ground and exploded
Black smoke can be seen from the Jose Marti International Airport terminalCredit: @blakeley1990/Twitter

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The crash Friday was Cuba's third major fatal accident since 2010 and the country's worst air disaster in three decades.

Last year, a Cuban military plane crashes into a hillside in the western province of Artemisa, killing eight troops on board.

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In November 2010, an AeroCaribbean flight from Santiago to Havana went down in bad weather as it flew over central Cuba, killing all 68 people, including 28 foreigners, in what was Cuba's worst air disaster in more than two decades.


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