Quebecers stuck in Cuba say they have no clue when they will return
Several hundred Canadian tourists, including some Quebecers, are still waiting to leave Cuba following a devastating plane crash last week.
Cubana airlines grounded its flights to Montreal and Toronto Friday, after one of its planes crashed in Havana right after takeoff, killing more than 100 people.
Corinne Sollows was supposed to return to Montreal from Cayo Largo on Friday, but her flight was cancelled. After being told the flight was delayed numerous times, she found out it was cancelled by looking it up online.
She said no one at her hotel gave her that information.
"It's been kind of a nightmare. More than a nightmare. Everybody has gone through a million emotions. The stress levels are insanely high because we're not given any information," she said.
She said at one point, a representative from the Caribe Sol, a flight and travel provider, told them that there was a flight leaving from Varadero, but it could only hold 16 people. There were 77 Canadians at the hotel.
"It was like a snake pit. People were attacking each other, they were screaming. People were faking illnesses to get on this flight."
Another Quebecer, Lisa Gauthier ,learned Saturday her return flight from Varadero was cancelled, and she says she has been waiting for news about her flight ever since.
"We're stuck here. We're well treated, we're at the hotel, it's fine, but at some point it would nice to have an idea" of when they will be returning, she said.
Gauthier added that her mother is sick and she's worried about whether she has enough medication with her.
Flights into Montreal to resume today
In an emailed statement, the president of Caribe Sol apologized for the situation and said Cubana flights to Canada will resume Monday.
"Cubana de Aviacion airline have [sic] been working to protect passengers buying air tickets to other air lines, have also protected all passengers in hotels at destination and at the same time passengers have been assisted on 24 hours basis by Caribe Sol Reps at destination," Juan Carlos Soto Garcia said.
The company says 346 of its customers are left in Cuba, and many customers were flown back on other airlines.
A statement posted to the company's Facebook page said travellers who were supposed to fly from Montreal to Cuba are being offered a full refund.
The list of scheduled arrivals on the Trudeau airport website doesn't mention a single flight from Cuba. One Cubana flight is scheduled to return to Toronto's Pearson airport Monday afternoon.
Cubana was renting the 39-year-old plane that crashed from Damojh airlines, a Mexican charter company.
Damojh had been the subject of two serious complaints about its crews' performance over the last decade.
