10 Argentines die in Cuba plane crash; Gov't sends plane to repatriate victims

A plane carrying 68 people, including ten Argentines, crashed in a mountainous region of central Cuba after issuing an emergency call, state-run media said as there were no reports of survivors. President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner confirmed Argentina is to send an airplane to Cuba to repatriate the Argentine victims.

Foreign Affairs Héctor Timerman confirmed the President issued the order of sending a plane to Cuba to bring the Argentine victims back to the country. Timerman said via his Twitter accounted that people seeking information may call to 4310-8397 and 4819-7892. Cuban television said the plane was an ATR-72-212 twin turboprop aircraft flown by Cuba's state-owned Aero Caribbean airlines.

The plane, Flight 883, left Santiago de Cuba in eastern Cuba en route to Havana and went down at 5:42 p.m. local time (2242 GMT) near the town of Guasimal in Sancti Spiritus province. After making an emergency call, the plane lost contact with air traffic controllers.

Rescue workers had to use a bulldozer to plow their way through thick vegetation to the crash site, the sources said.

Argentina's Ambassador to Cuba Juliana Marino later confirmed the deaths of the nine Argentines who were on the plane stressing this moment was "very painful."