68 Fatally Injured In Friday Accident

A Cuban airliner carrying 68 Cubans and others from Europe and Latin America went down Friday, fatally injuring all aboard. The accident reportedly happened about 1742 EDT near about 220 miles east of Havana.

The flight, which had departed from Santiago de Cuba and was enroute to Havana, operates twice a week between Port-au-Prince in Haiti to Havana with the interim stop. Fox News reports that the flight was the last flight out of Santiago de Cuba before the airport was closed due to the approach of tropical storm Tomas. Air and rail service were being suspended until the storm passed.

The aircraft, an ATR-72 twin turboprop was operated by AeroCaribean, which is owned by Cubana de Aviacion, Cuba's state airline. ATR confirmed in a statement that the aircraft, registered under CU-T1549, was MSN (Manufacturing Serial Number) 459, initially delivered from the production line in November 1995. It (accumulated) almost 25,000 flight hours in more than 34,500 flights. Aero Caribbean has operated the plane since October 2006.

ATR-72 File Photo

It is still not clear whether weather from the approaching tropical storm contributed to the accident. Media sources including Reuters report that the pilot did declare an emergency before the plane went down.

FMI: www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2886.htm