UPDATE: Cuban president reports "high number of victims" from plane crash

HAVANA, Cuba, CMC – Cuban officials Friday spoke of a “high number of victims” after a Boeing 737-400 with more than 100 people on board crashed while taking off from Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport on an internal flight from Havana to Holguin in Eastern Cuba.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who has visited the crash site, said there were a “high number” of casualties.

There were 104 passengers and initial reports said that there were an additional nine crew members on board the plane.

“There has been an unfortunate aviation accident. The news is not very promising, it seems that there is a high number of victims,” Diaz-Canel said.

State-owned media reported that the 26-year-old Boeing 737-400 (I-BPAC), was being operated by Blue Panorama Airlines for Cubana as flight #CU972 from Havana to Holguin.

The plane is reportedly laying in a farm field with emergency crews spraying it with water and paramedics working at the site.

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