Twenty priests were among 110 people who died in the Cuba plane crash, it has emerged.

Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel said an investigation had been launched into the crash, which happened on Friday.

The plane, a Boeing 737 built in 1979, was leased to the national carrier Cubana de Aviacion by a Mexican charter company, Damojh airlines.

According to authorities in Guyana, and to a retired Cuban pilot, the Mexican firm had been the subject of two serious complaints about its crew's performance over the last decade.

Mexico's government said it would conduct an operational audit of Damojh to see if its "current operating conditions continue meeting regulations".


Damojh declined to comment, and said it would be communicating only through written statements.

The company had permits needed to lease its aircraft and had passed a verification of its maintenance programme in November last year, Mexican authorities said.

One of the plane's black boxes has been retrieved, officials said.

Boeing said in a statement that a "technical team stands ready to assist" and offered condolences to friends and relatives of the victims.

Image: Firefighters work at the site of the wreckage

Three women who were pulled alive from the wreckage are the only known survivors.

As details of some of the victims emerged, the Cuban Council of Churches said 20 priests from an evangelical church were among those who died in the crash.

Maite Quesada, a member of the council, said: "On that plane were 10 couples of pastors. Twenty people. All of the Nazarene Church in the eastern region."

The plane was on an internal flight from Havana to the eastern city of Holguin.

The group had spent several days at a meeting in the capital and were returning to their homes and places of worship in Holguin province.

The 104 passengers on board, mainly Cubans, included five foreigners, two of them from Argentina. The six crew members were all Mexican nationals.

The aircraft was almost completely destroyed in the crash and fire that followed.

One of its wings was wedged among scorched tree trunks, while the main fuselage was virtually destroyed.

A period of mourning began at dawn on Saturday and will continue until midnight on Sunday, Communist Party leader and former president Raul Castro said.

Image: The crash was followed by a huge fire

Mr Diaz-Canel, 58, who succeeded Mr Castro as leader in April, appeared shocked as he watched the recovery operation.

Mr Castro sent his condolences to families bereaved in the "catastrophic accident", while Russian President Vladimir Putin and various Latin American leaders also expressed sympathy.

Pope Francis asked the church in Cuba to convey condolences to families "who mourn the unexpected disappearance of loved ones".

Image: The aircraft crashed after taking off from Havana's Jose Marti airport

Witness Jose Luis, 49, who works at a supermarket near the airport, said he saw the plane lifting into the air before it banked and plunged to the ground.

He said: "I saw it taking off. All of a sudden, it made a turn, and went down. We were all amazed."

Yasniel Diaz, a 21-year-old musician, said the pilot appeared to attempt an emergency landing, but crashed instead.

He said: "The explosion shook everything. I started running. I was so afraid."