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'Sad to Think How Many People Were There' - Witnesses of Plane Crash in Cuba

On Friday, a Holguin-bound Boeing 737 carrying 110 passengers and crew crashed shortly after takeoff from Cuba’s José Marti International Airport.
Sputnik

Several witnesses of the deadly accident shared with Sputnik Mundo how they felt as they saw the plane crash:

"I never imagined seeing something like that, I could see the blue fuselage of the plane that was flying very low, almost touching the trees and I saw how it maneuvered to get out of the houses and the school," said Vivian, a resident of the area, known as Alturas del Aeropuerto, which is about 20 kilometers from Havana.

Another witness told Sputnik he was crushed when he realized how many people were inside the plane.

"The glow of fire was felt through the clothes. I saw the column of smoke rising and I felt sad to think how many people would be inside that plane," said Lazaro Pérez, custodian of several state warehouses near the agricultural fields, where the Boeing 737 aircraft fell.

There also was a scared teenager in the area that refused to comment on the incident, having abandoned his bicycle near the crash site, escaping from the flames and rumble.

READ MORE: Boeing 737 Crashed After Takeoff From Airport in Cuba — Reports (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

A representative of the National Assembly of People’s Power in the area reported no damage or human casualties on the ground and thanked local residents for their help in the search and rescue for crash survivors.

Putin Expresses Condolences to Cuban Leader Over Boeing 737 Crash
The passenger plane flying to Holguin from Havana crashed between José Marti International Airport and the town of Santiago de las Vegas with 110 people on board. Shortly after the crash, several media reported that three people had survived and were hospitalized in critical condition.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel announced that the country’s government had set up a commission to investigate the causes of the accident.

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