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WORLD NEWS Monday 21 May 2018

Company in Cuba plane crash had received safety complaints

BY MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN comment, saying the com- “the formula here is that
and BERT WILKINSON pany would be communi- they take care of the main-
Associated Press cating only through written tenance of the aircraft.
HAVANA (AP) — The Mexi- statements. Mexican au- That’s their responsibility.”
can charter company thorities said Damojh had He said Cuba didn’t have
whose 39-year-old plane permits needed to lease pilots certified to fly the
crashed in Havana had its aircraft and had passed Boeing, so it had hired the
been the subject of two a November 2017 verifica- Mexican crew with the ex-
serious complaints about its tion of its maintenance pectation that they were
crews’ performance over program. They announced fully trained and certified
the last decade, accord- a new audit late Saturday. by the proper authorities.
ing to authorities in Guy- Cuban Transportation Yzquierdo also said the jet’s
ana and a retired pilot for Minister Adel Yzquierdo “black box” voice recorder
Cuba’s national airline. Rodriguez told reporters had been recovered and
Mexico’s government said Saturday afternoon that that Cuban officials had Rescue teams search through the wreckage site of a Boeing 737
late Saturday that its Na- Cubana had been renting granted a U.S. request for that plummeted into a cassava field with more than 100 passen-
tional Civil Aviation Au- the plane for less than a investigators from Boeing gers on board, in Havana, Cuba, Friday, May 18, 2018.
thority will carry out an op- month under an arrange- to travel to the island. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
erational audit of Damojh ment in which the Mexican Eyewitness and private sa- stored in the plane’s toilet. suspended last May was
airlines to see if its “current company was entirely re- lon owner Rocio Martinez “This is the same plane and the same one that died in
operating conditions con- sponsible for maintenance said she heard a strange tail number,” Guyanese Friday’s crash. Damojh op-
tinue meeting regulations” of the aircraft. Armando noise and looked up to see Infrastructure Minister Da- erates three Boeing 737s,
and to help collect infor- Daniel Lopez, president the plane with a turbine on vid Patterson said. He and two 737-300s and the 737-
mation for the investigation of Cuba’s Institute of Civil fire. other Guyanese authori- 201 that crashed Friday,
into Friday’s crash in Cuba Aviation, told the AP that Field told AP that the Boe- ties said they did not im- according to Mexican
that left 110 dead. Cuban authorities had not ing 737 with tail number XA- mediately know if the crew officials.q
The plane that crashed, received any complaints UHZ had been flying four
a Boeing 737, was barred about the plane in that routes a week between
from Guyanese airspace month. He declined to Georgetown, Guyana, and
last year after authorities comment further. Havana starting in October
discovered that its crew Yzquierdo said it was rou- 2016. Cubans do not need
had been allowing dan- tine for Cuba to rent planes visas to travel to Guyana,
gerous overloading of lug- under a variety of arrange- and the route was popu-
gage on flights to Cuba, ments because of what lar with Cubans working as
Guyanese Civil Aviation he described as the coun- “mules” to bring suitcases
Director Capt. Egbert Field try’s inability to purchase crammed with goods back
told The Associated Press its own aircraft due to the home to the island, where
on Saturday. U.S. trade embargo on the virtually all consumer prod-
The plane and crew were island. ucts are scarce and more
being rented from Mexico Cuba has been able to buy expensive than in most oth-
City-based Damojh by Ea- planes produced in other er countries.
sySky, a Honduras-based countries, including France After Easy Sky canceled
low-cost airline. Cuba’s na- and Ukraine, but has pulled a series of flights in spring
tional carrier, Cubana de many from service due to 2017, leaving hundreds of
Aviacion, was also renting maintenance problems Cubans stranded at Guy-
the plane and crew in a and other issues. ana’s main airport, authori-
similar arrangement known “It’s normal for us to rent ties began inspecting the
as a “wet lease” before the planes,” he said. “Why? plane and discovered that
aircraft veered on takeoff Because it’s convenient crews were loading exces-
to the eastern Cuban city and because of the prob- sive amounts of baggage,
of Holguin and crashed lem of the blockade that leading to concerns the
into a field just after noon we have. Sometimes we aircraft could be danger-
Friday, according to Mexi- can’t buy the planes that ously overburdened and
can aviation authorities. we need, and we need to unbalanced. In one in-
A Damojh employee in rent them.” stance, Guyanese authori-
Mexico City declined to He said that with Damojh, ties discovered suitcases