AeroCaribbean Flight 883 from Santiago to the capital, Havana, went down in bad weather as it flew over central Cuba on the afternoon of Nov. 4, bursting into flames and showering the mountainous area with twisted wreckage and body parts.
Civil Aviation officials on Thursday said their two-month investigation showed that there was nothing wrong with the French-Italian-made ATR 72-212 turboprop aircraft or its engines that could have contributed to the disaster.
“The flight was proceeding normally until it found itself in extreme meteorological conditions that caused the airplane to ice up severely at an altitude of 20,000 feet,” the report said. “This, in conjunction with errors by the crew in managing the situation, caused the accident.” No further details were given.
At the time, Cuba’s state-run media barely mentioned the disaster, or efforts to recover and identify the victims.
But victims’ relatives and embassy officials were nearly unanimous that Cuban authorities did an excellent job coordinating recovery efforts after the crash.
Those killed included nine Argentines, seven Mexicans and citizens of Germany, Holland, Spain and Italy. Two Australians were on board, as well as one Japanese national.
The crash was the deadliest in Cuba since a chartered Cubana de Aviacion plane en route from Havana to Milan, Italy, went down shortly after takeoff in September 1989, killing all 126 people on board, as well as at least two dozen on the ground.
