ZCZC
BFF-02
CUBA-ARMY-AVIATION-ACCIDENT
Five dead in helicopter accident in Cuba: official
HAVANA, Jan 30, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Five people died in Cuba on Friday when
their helicopter crashed on its way from the province of Holguin to
Guantanamo in the east of the island, the armed forces ministry announced.
The helicopter “crashed against a hill” and “the five people on board
died,” the ministry said in a statement released by state media.
The ministry has set up a commission to investigate what caused the
accident, according to the statement. It gave no other details, including the
identities of the victims.
The last serious air accident in Cuba occurred in May 2018, when a plane
crashed shortly after take-off from Havana airport, killing 112 people, with
only one passenger surviving.
An investigation found errors in the calculations of the aircraft’s weight
and center of gravity.
Eight Cuban military personnel died in April 2017 in the crash of a
Russian-made aircraft in the mountainous western region of Artemisa.
BSS/AFP/SSS/0825 hrs