Polish Leader and His Wife Pass Away in Plane Crash in Smolensk With
Other High-Ranking Officials (Updated)
15:52 – 10.04.10
Polish President Lech Kaczynski and scores of others have been killed
in a plane crash in Russia. Polish and Russian officials said no-one
had survived after the plane apparently hit trees as it approached
Smolensk’s airport in thick fog, reports BBC News.
Poland’s army chief, central bank governor, MPs and leading historians
were among more than 80 passengers. They were flying in from Warsaw to
mark 70 years since the Katyn massacre of thousands of Poles by Soviet
forces.
The Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was reportedly in tears when he
was told. Tusk, who runs the day-to-day business of government, has
called an emergency meeting of ministers.
The Russian emergencies ministry told Itar-Tass news agency the plane
crashed at 1056 Moscow time (0656 GMT). Smolensk regional governor
Sergei Antufiev told Russian TV that no-one had survived.
"As it was preparing for landing, the Polish president’s aircraft did
not make it to the landing strip. According to preliminary reports, it
got caught up in the tops of trees, fell to the ground and broke up
into pieces. There are no survivors in that crash," he said.
Poland’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Piotr Paszkowski, also said it
could be assumed with "great certainty" that no-one had survived. "We
still cannot fully understand the scope of this tragedy and what it
means for us in the future. Nothing like this has ever happened in
Poland," he said.
It is unclear how many people were on board. Polish officials said the
delegation was 88-strong, and local officials said 96 people had been
killed. Russian investigators had earlier said there were a total of
132 people on the plane.
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.
Tert.am
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress