What happened
On an approach toward Havana-José Martí-Ranels Boyeros Airport, a collision occurred between two aircraft. The first involved was a four-engine DC-8 that had arrived from Montreal without prior incident. During the arrival sequence, this aircraft struck a Cubana de Aviación Antonov AN-24B which was performing a local training mission.
The crew of the Antonov consisted of five members. Following the impact, the DC-8 maintained enough control to proceed with its approach and land safely at the airport without additional complications. However, the Antonov AN-24B crashed during the encounter, resulting in 5 fatalities as the entire flight crew was killed.
Findings
An investigation into the event determined that the primary factor was a mid-air collision between the aircraft during the approach phase of flight.