Authorities in Cuba have said high winds ripped a wing off a small aircraft which crashed on the island, killing four Britons and 12 other people.

Cuban rescue teams were today pulling the bodies of 16 people - including four British tourists - from a dam in central Cuba after a small Soviet-made biplane crashed in a remote region.

Seventeen people, including 13 Western tourists, are feared dead today after a light aircraft crash in Cuba.

Hurricane Michelle gathered strength for a strike on Cuba as it crept across the western Caribbean today on a course that could also take it to Florida or the Bahamas.