Havana – Holguín

On May 18, 2018 at 12:10 PM, Havana – Holguín experienced a crash involving Boeing 737-200, operated by Cubana de Aviación, with the event recorded near Havana-José Martí (Rancho Boyeros) La Habana.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

113 people were known to be on board, 112 fatalities were recorded, 1 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 99.1%.

Crew on board: 6, crew fatalities: 6, passengers on board: 107, passenger fatalities: 106, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. After takeoff from runway 06 at Havana-José Martí Airport, while in initial climb, the undercarriage were raised when the aircraft entered an excessive nose-up angle of 30°. It rolled to the right then descended until it struck power cables and a railway track before it disintegrated in a field located less than one km east from the airport. Three female passengers were seriously injured while 110 other occupants were killed, among them 102 Cubans, 6 Mexicans (crew) and 2 Argentinians. Three days after the accident, one of the three survivors died from her injuries. A second survivor died one week later, on May 25. The aircraft was operated by Cubana de Aviacíon under a wet lease contract from the Mexican operator Global Air (Damojh Aéreolíneas), and the service was operated under callsign DMJ972.

Aircraft reference details include registration XA-UHZ, MSN 21816/592, year of manufacture 1979.