WORLD : Cuba Plane Crashes; 10 Missing
A Cuban airliner on a domestic flight crashed near the southeastern city of Santiago de Cuba early today, and 10 of the 31 people aboard were missing, the Civil Aviation Institute said.
A spokeswoman said the Cubana de Aviacion airliner had been approaching to land at Santiago de Cuba’s Antonio Maceo Airport, about 620 miles southeast of Havana, when the crash occurred. The crash site is a beach that is accessible only from the sea, hampering rescue operations.
Twenty-one people aboard the plane survived, but no details were immediately available of their injuries. There were seven crew members aboard the aircraft, the spokeswoman said.
A number of foreign tourists were aboard the aircraft. The spokeswoman said she understood that they all had survived the crash but could not give details of nationalities.
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