Cuba Plane Crash: Another Survivor Dies, Death Toll Rises to 112

One of the survivors of the plane crash just outside Havana airport last week died early on Friday, state-run media cited the Cuban government as saying, raising the death toll from one of Cuba’s worst air disasters to 112.

Emiley Sanchez, a 40-year old Cuban from the eastern city of Holguin where the Boeing 737 had been heading, died in a hospital in the capital due to “severe traumatic lesions and burns” suffered in the accident.

“Her state was extremely critical with an unfavorable prognostic and on a progressive downwards path that we could not reverse,” the Health Ministry said in a statement read on state-run radio station Radio Reloj.

Three Cuban women had originally survived when the Boeing 737 crashed shortly after takeoff and burst into flames. Two of them have now died, leaving one survivor fighting for her life.

The plane had been leased by the little-known Mexican company, Damojh, to Cuba’s flagship carrier Cubana, and all but 11 of 113 passengers on board were Cuban.

The foreigners were seven Mexicans including the crew, two Argentine tourists, and two Sahrawis from a disputed area in the Western Sahara who were resident in Cuba.

Cuba is leading the probe into the crash, together with Mexican and US.investigators, and has retrieved the black box with flight data and voice recordings from the cockpit.

Mexico’s civil aviation authority said on Monday it had suspended Damojh’s operations while it made sure the firm adhered to regulations and gathered information to help investigators find the cause of the crash.

Previous complaints over inadequate maintenance and safety measures have surfaced again in recent days. (Reuters)

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