HAVANA — A ********** operated by state ******* Cubana has crashed on takeoff from Jose Marti International Airport in Havana with 104 people on board.

State television and websites said the plane was headed to the eastern city of Holguin and crashed between the airport in southern Havana and the nearby town of Santiago de *********.

The plane lay in a farm field and appeared heavily damaged and burnt, with ************ spraying water on its smouldering remains.

Government officials including President Miguel Diaz-Canel rushed to the site, along with a large number of ********* medical workers and ambulances. Residents of the rural area said they had seen some ********* being taken away in ambulances.

A military officer who declined to provide his name to reporters says there appear to have been three ********* in ****************** from the Cubana flight. Other officials have declined to confirm that.

The plane was rented by Cubana, which has taken many of its aging planes out of service in recent months due to mechanical problems.