Military helicopter crashes without survivors in Santiago de Cuba
HAVANA, Apr 11. A helicopter of the Armed Forces (FAR) crashed in the early hours of this Thursday in Santiago de Cuba.Preliminary data indicate that there were no survivors in the incident. The MI-17 helicopter number H-115 fell from about ten meters high.
Presumably the military aircraft was supporting the visit of Army General Raúl Castro, who was in Santiago de Cuba this Wednesday with Miguel Díaz-Canel and other Cuban political leaders, participating in the burial ceremony of the remains of combatants of the Third Eastern Front.
At least three people are believed to have died in the plane crash. Among them a flight mechanic and two FAR Red Beret escorts.
Luis Peña Almarales, a computer scientist at the Holguín airport, expressed on social networks: “Very sad, three great colleagues, excellent people that we lost today. Rest in peace. Condolences to their families.”
Facebook Luis Dominguez
However, Facebook user Luis Domínguez, a journalist and one of the first people to report on this case, pointed out that about five people must have been traveling in the helicopter: two pilots, a flight mechanic and two Red Berets officers.
He indicated that one of the crew members was identified as Dairon González, and he was training as a pilot in the third training course for that specialty in the Cuban army.
A user who calls himself Bolek Lolek on Facebook said that the deceased technician is Yunier Céspedes Escalona. “I received the news an hour ago. The flight technician was a friend of mine, we studied together at the ITM José Martí in the same course,” he said.
“Sources from nearby neighborhoods such as Marmolosa and the neighborhood adjacent to the airport confirm the fall of the ship, although they cannot enter the area because it is a military zone,” said Cuban journalist Yosmany Mayeta.
Cuban authorities have not yet offered official data on this case. The accident occurred at 5:00 am, near the Santiago de Cuba airport.
Doubts grow among the population as the hours go by, since the regime keeps the event secret, does not reveal the details about what happened at the Santiago de Cuba airport, nor the identity of the people involved in the incident.
