Cuban passenger jet crashes, killing 107

A Cuban commercial plane carrying 110 people crashed shortly after taking off Friday, killing nearly everyone aboard, Cuban state media reports. The jet, a Boeing 737 being operated by Cuba's Cubana de Aviación airline, reportedly crashed a few minutes after noon local time, Cuban newspaper Granma reported.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said only three people survived, and they were seriously injured. Four people were initially transported to the hospital, Reuters reported, but one later died. The plane's passengers included five children, alongside nine crew members; all were reportedly foreigners, though their nationalities have not been released.

Video from the scene shows thick black smoke rising in the air, while "the crushed fuselage of the plane, seemingly ripped in pieces, lay in thick vegetation as firefighters doused it with hoses," The New York Times reports. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. Kimberly Alters

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