After crash in Havana, airline releases names of 110 people who died, 3 who survived

The Cuban airline Cubana de Aviación on Saturday released the names of all 110 people who died in Friday's fiery plane crash in Havana, Cuban State media reported. Three people survived.

Of those who died — 104 passengers and six Mexican crew members — inside the Boeing 737 as it went down in a field near José Martí International Airport or afterward at the hospital, all but 11 were Cuban. Of the passengers who died, two were from Argentina, two were from the disputed territory of Western Sahara and one was from Mexico.

A total of 113 people were aboard the plane, which was destined for the Cuban province of Holguín. Initially, four survived, but one later died at a Havana hospital.

The three remaining survivors, who are female and all identified as Cuban, range in age from 19 to 39 and were reported in serious condition. They were identified as Emiley Sánchez De La O, Mailén Díaz Almaguer and Grettel Landrove Font.

Twenty church leaders from an evangelical church were among the dead, The Associated Press reported Saturday.

More than half of the victims were from Holguín, which is more than 400 miles east of Havana. The initial plan was to run a flight from Holguín to Havana for some family members of the victims and to bus others. But poor weather scuttled the flight and representatives of the families were being bused to Havana early Saturday to help identify bodies.

A two-day mourning period began at 6 a.m. Saturday and will end at midnight Sunday.

Before the airline released its manifest, loved ones identified some victims through social media. Mourners using the hashtag #FuerzaCuba urged strength in the face of tragedy. A doctor and her young daughter were the first Cuban victims to be identified following the crash, a family friend confirmed to the Miami Herald.

Mónica Leyva García, a doctor at Hospital General Universitario in the province of Holguín, and her daughter Alexia were passengers aboard the plane, which fell from the sky and burst into flames shortly after takeoff from the Havana airport.

Messages from friends and other loved ones poured into Leyva's Facebook page on Saturday, as flags flew at half staff across Cuba and authorities began the grim task of identifying the scores of dead. Cuban State media also reported Saturday that the plane's flight recorder had been recovered.

The Cuban Council of Churches told the AP that 10 pastor couples — 20 people total — from the Nazarene Church in Holguín died in the crash. The group had visited Havana for a meeting and was returning home when the plane crashed, The AP reported.

Witnesses said it appeared the plane may have been trying to return to the airport when it hit electrical wires and plummeted to the ground.

Mexico's Transportation Department identified the pilot and co-pilot as Capt. Jorge Luis Nunez Santos and first officer Miguel Angel Arreola Ramirez, AP reported. It said the flight attendants were Maria Daniela Rios, Abigail Hernandez Garcia and Beatriz Limon.

Cubana de Aviación, the Cuban national airline, had leased the plane, which was nearly 40 years old, from Global Air, a Mexican company.

Cuban authorities immediately set up an investigative commission to look into the cause of the crash, and Mexico sent aviation officials to help. Boeing, the manufacturer of the aircraft, also offered to aid with the investigation. Heavy rainfall was hampering initial investigative efforts.

Cuba's Civil Aeronautics Institute will head the investigation in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior, according to Granma, the newspaper of Cuba's Communist Party.

Condolences poured in from around the world, and the U.S. State Department said that officials had spoken with the Cuban ambassador to the United States Friday afternoon to "offer our sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims."

On board the flight was the Mexican flight crew of five plus a maintenance technician. All but five of the passengers were Cuban. Argentina's foreign minister said two of the victims were Argentine: Dora Beatriz Cifuentes, 63, and Oscar Hugo Almaras, 67.

In learning of the crash, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel immediately went to the scene near the airport in the Rancho Boyeros suburb of Havana and walked a field alongside the charred remains of the airliner. Cuban state media also reported that Raúl Castro, the head of Cuba's Communist Party, had been briefed and was following events closely. Castro is recovering from a hernia operation.

Here is the full manifest:

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This story was originally published May 19, 2018 at 12:00 AM with the headline "After crash in Havana, airline releases names of 110 people who died, 3 who survived."