President of Poland Killed in Plane Crash in Russia

[babylonsister]

President of Poland Killed in Plane Crash in Russia

TVP, via APTN

Firefighters extinguished flames from the plane’s wreckage.
By ELLEN BARRY and NICHOLAS KULISH
Published: April 10, 2010


MOSCOW — A plane carrying the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, his wife and other high-ranking officials crashed in a heavy fog in western Russia on Saturday morning, killing all aboard, Polish officials said.

Russian television showed chunks of still-flaming fuselage scattered in a bare forest near Smolensk, where the president was arriving for a ceremony commemorating the murder of more than 20,000 Polish officers by the Red Army as it invaded Poland.

The governor of Smolensk region, Sergei Antufiyev, said early reports suggested that the plane, landing in a thick fog, did not reach the runway but instead hit the treetops and fell apart. Russian President Dmitri A. Medvedev ordered top officials to rush to the scene and opened an investigation into the causes of the crash.

The crash came as a stunning blow to Poland, killing many of the country’s top leaders and reviving, for some, the horror of the Katyn massacre.

“It is a damned place,” former president Aleksander Kwas’niewski told TVN24. “It sends shivers down my spine. First the flower of the Second Polish Republic is murdered in the forests around Smolensk, now the intellectual elite of the Third Polish Republic die in this tragic plane crash when approaching Smolensk airport.”

“This is a wound which will be very difficult to heal,” he said.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/world/europe/11poland.html?hp

[malaise]

1. This is devastating for the government, bureacracy and people of Poland

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8612825.stm
<snip>
It is unclear how many people were on board. Polish officials said the delegation was 88-strong, while local officials said 96 people had been killed.

Russian investigators had earlier said there were 132 people on the plane.

As well as the president and his wife, Maria, a number of senior officials were on the passenger list.

They included the army chief of staff Gen Franciszek Gagor, central bank governor Slawomir Skrzypek and deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer.

Russian media carried claims that the plane's crew were at fault for the crash.

"The pilot was advised to land in Minsk, but decided to land in Smolensk," said Andrei Yevseyenkov, a Smolensk regional government spokesman .

[The Straight Story]

2. kick (nt)

[Xenotime]

3. This is very bad for that region.

[babylonsister]

4. Very bad for any country. My condolences to everyone. nt