Guyana is in the process of gathering information for Cuban authorities who have requested assistance as part of their probe into last week’s plane crash in the island’s capital, Havana.

Guyana Civil Aviation Authority’s (GCAA) Director General, retired Lieutenant Colonel Egbert Fields told reporters that the agency is in the process of gathering the required information.

He said the Cubans requested the assistance “through diplomatic channels” and the authority as opted to respond. “We are putting together the information for them and will soon send it through the channel to them.”

One hundred and eleven passengers which included a flight crew of nine persons, lost their lives when the Boeing 737-200 bearing registration XA-UHZ made contact with a house, ploughed into some trees and a railway track before bursting into flames.

The plane was said to have experienced difficulty during its climb after taking off from the Jose Marti International Airport for Holguín City in eastern Cuba.

It was later disclosed by the GCAA that the plane was the same one that was banned from operating in Guyana last year after it was found to be unsafe.

The plane was at that time being rented by Honduran company Easy Sky from Mexican company Global Aerolineas. Easy Sky provided four weekly flights between Cuba and Guyana at the time. The aircraft was later rented by Cuba’s national airline Cubana de Aviación S.A to operate internally.

Field said local investigators had for the first time demanded the flight recorder of any plane operating in Guyana since reports were coming in that the plane appeared to be under stress during takeoff and was using up the full length of the runway.

It was said that at one time, the plane had overshot the runway sending up sand and dust, frightening Chinese airport workers who plunged to safety. The flight it was said “barely” made the lift.

Director Field had told Guyana Chronicle that a spot check on the flight while operating here had also proved that the plane was being overloaded with cargo unsafely packed at the back of the plane and between passengers’ feet.

Along with the decoded flight data and other information, the GCAA had banned the plane from Guyana and is now receiving much praise for preventing a possible disaster here.