BUENOS AIRES/ MEXICO CITY, July 24 (RIA Novosti) – Cuban leader Raul Castro's daughter and Fidel Castro's niece, Mariela, in a telephone interview with Venezuelan Telesur channel denied claims that she was on board the Air Algerie’s plane.
“I am alive, happy and healthy,” Mariela Castro Espín was quoted as saying.
According to Telesur, the daughter of Cuban leader is currently in Havana.
Earlier Thursday, the Ouagadougou airport said on its Facebook page that the Mariela Castro died in a crash.
“There were two French officials and Mariela Castro, the niece of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro,” the airport said.
Air Algerie’s A320 plane went off radar screens in Burkina Faso earlier today. Contact with the aircraft was lost 50 minutes after it departed from Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou. The airline later announced the aircraft crashed near the Malian city of Gao.
Mariela Castro Espín is the director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) in Havana, a member of World Association for Sexual Health (WAS), and an activist for LGBT rights.
