Pope Francis prays for the victims of Cuba's plane crash

Pope Francis has sent a telegramme of condolences for the victims of a plane crash in Cuba in which more than 100 people were killed.

In the message addressed to the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Dionisio Guillermo Garcia Ibanez, the Pope said he is praying for the eternal repose of the dead.

Francis also expressed his closeness to the families of the victims “in this hour of pain in which they are grieving for the unexpected separation from their loved ones”.

May the Lord, the Pope said in the telegramme signed by the Vatican Secretary of State on his behalf, give the families of the victims the “spiritual serenity of Christian hope”.

The Boeing 737 airliner crashed on Friday evening near Cuba’s main airport in Havana. It is the country’s worst air disaster in decades.

Cuban authorities have launched an investigation, and two days of national mourning have been declared.