68 crash victims mourned

GUASIMAL, Cuba - Rescue workers Friday pulled bodies from the charred wreckage of a state airliner that went down in rugged central Cuba, as desperate relatives gathered at the capital's airport and called embassies seeking information on their loved ones.

All 68 people aboard AeroCaribbean Flight 883 were killed when the turboprop plane went down Thursday in a remote area near the village of Guasimal in Sancti Spiritus province.

Twenty-eight foreigners were among the dead, including nine Argentines, seven Mexicans, and citizens of Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and other European countries. One Japanese national was also on board. It was Cuba's worst air disaster in more than 20 years.

The plane, carrying 61 passengers and an all-Cuban crew of seven, was en route to the capital from the main eastern city of Santiago de Cuba when it reported an emergency at 5:42 p.m. and later crashed in flames.

Cuban state media showed footage of rescue workers and military personnel poring over the crash site in the evening hours while firefighters sprayed the smoldering wreckage.

Bodies of the victims were being brought to the medical examiner's office in Havana for identification, and a commission was formed to determine the cause of the crash. State media reported that rescuers had found the plane's flight data recorders, a key step in possibly determining the cause of the crash.

In Toulouse, France, the aircraft manufacturer ATR said the plane was built in 1995 and became part of AeroCaribbean's fleet in October 2006. It had logged 25,000 hours of flying time during more than 34,500 flights.

"At this time, the reasons for the accident are still unknown," the company said, adding that it offered its "deepest sympathies to the families" and "full technical assistance" to Cuban and French aviation officials. AeroCaribbean is owned by the Cuban state airline Cubana de Aviacion.

Javier Figueroa, an official at the Argentine Embassy in Havana, said the mission was inundated with calls from worried relatives in his country. President Cristina Fernandez was readying a plane to ferry family members of the victims to Cuba, but it was not clear when it would arrive.

Mexico's foreign ministry said embassy personnel in Cuba were on their way to the crash site and would work with Cuban officials to help identify victims. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero sent a letter of condolence to Cuban leader Raul Castro and promised his country's help.

Qantas thinks the engine that blew apart Thursday on an Airbus A380 was probably designed or built incorrectly, airline CEO Alan Joyce said Friday, focusing attention on the engine's manufacturer, Rolls-Royce.

Hours after he spoke,

a Qantas Boeing 747, also with Rolls-Royce engines, turned back to Singapore's airport with an engine problem shortly after takeoff. The airline said the problem was not serious. A passenger on the 747 said there was "a loud bang and a jet of fire from the back of the engine."

Rolls-Royce Group P.L.C. did not comment on Friday's developments.

On Thursday, one of Qantas' six Airbus A380s suffered

a massive engine failure in one of its four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines about four minutes into a flight and shed pieces of metal before making a safe emergency landing at Singapore.

"We believe this is probably most likely a material failure or some type of design issue," Joyce said at a news conference.

The A380 is the world's largest and newest airliner. Airbus has delivered 37 A380s since the jet's debut in 2007. Twenty, operated by Qantas, Lufthansa, and Singapore Airlines, use Trent 900 engines.

- Associated Press

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