While Donald Trump continues to sit around at the White House angrily tweeting about the Mueller investigation and related issues, the world faces a host of problems that, despite the president’s egocentric world view, do not entail someone criticizing him.
One such issue unfolded early Friday in Havana, Cuba, when a flight that had just taken off crashed. The Boeing 737 had 104 passengers on board and was headed for a destination inside Cuba; before crashing, the plane had been set to make an about 500 mile trek to the eastern city of Holguin.
The plane is reportedly owned by a Mexican airline called Global Air and had been rented by the Cuban national airline known as Cubana. The aircraft reportedly crashed in the Santiago de las Vegas neighborhood, which has been described as near the airport.
A photo touted as depicting the crash is below. The original poster soon corrected himself, adding that the flight was not American.
Plane crash in Cuba, American flight crashed shortly after take off ? #cuba #planecrash pic.twitter.com/W4IuiIaF1K
— Matt Blakeley (@blakeley1990) May 18, 2018
After an initial period of uncertainty as to the number of casualties, Cuban state media reported that there were three survivors. That number is drawn from the total number of passengers and crew who were on the plane.
President Donald Trump has not personally addressed the tragedy as of mid-Friday afternoon, although he has not been completely silent. He addressed the latest in a string of school shootings; this time, a gunman took ten lives at Texas’ Santa Fe High School.
The president has in the past maintained a harsh stance towards Cuba, moving to undo diplomatic progress made in the two countries’ relationship under the Obama administration. We will have to wait and see if that stance affects his response to the major Friday loss of life in the country.
