Poland's President Killed in Plane Crash

[Hawks]

I was ashamed :s

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/10/world/main6381943.shtml

AROUND 130 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and other Polish officials, were killed when their plane crashed as it came in to land at Smolensk airport in western Russia, Russian news agencies reported.

"It clipped the tops of the trees, crashed down and broke into pieces," the governor of the Smolensk region, Sergei Antufiev, told Russia-24 television news network by telephone.

There were no survivors when the Tupolev 154 crashed, Antufiev.

Earlier reports from Russian news agency ITAR-Tass reported earlier 87 people had died, but several sources including Reuters were reporting as many as 132.

Polish foreign ministry spokesman Piotr Pszkowski said the Polish president, accompanied by his wife, the army chief of staff and Deputy Foreign Minsiter Andrzej Kremer were on board the plane.

The head of Poland's national bank, Slawomir Skrzypek, was also among the dead, his spokesman told Bloomberg, as well as the Polish deputy speaker.

The Polish government was to hold an extraordinary meeting soon, Reuters reported.

Mr Kaczynski, the identical twin brother of former prime minister Jaroslaw, was on his way to attend commemorative ceremonies at the forest of Katyn in western Russia where 22,000 Poles were killed by Soviet troops 70 years ago.

The crash of his plane occurred three days after Putin and his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, together attended a memorial for the victims of the massacre at Katyn.

The Putin-Tusk meeting there was seen as a huge symbolic advance in Russia's often thorny relations with Poland.

source


First on-site video of plane crash that killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski



UPDATED list of dead

Lech Kaczyński, President
Maria Kaczyńska, First Lady

Ryszard Kaczorowski, last President-in-exile

Krzysztof Putra, vice-Marshal of the Sejm (speaker of Parliament)
Krystyna Bochenek, vice-Marshal of the Sejm

Jerzy Szmajdziński, former Minister of Defence and intended Presidential Candidate for this year's election
Władysław Stasiak, chief of the President's office
Jacek Sasin, his deputy

Aleksander Szczygło, chief of National Security Bureau
Paweł Wypych, Secretary of State in President's office (note to Amerigoons: less important than it sounds)
Mariusz Handzlik, his deputy

Andrzej Kremer, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs
gen. Franciszek GÄ…gor, Chief of Staff
Jerzy Bar, ambassador to Russia

Andrzej Przewoźnik, major historian

Maciej Płażyński, MP, former Marshal of the Sejm
Przemysław Gosiewski, MP, former minister
Zbigniew Wassermann, MP, former minister
Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka, MP, former Minister of Social Policy
Jolanta Szymanek-Deresz, MP, former chief of President's Office
Aleksandra Natalii-Ã…Å¡wiat, MP, vice-president of Law and Justice party
Leszek Deptuła, MP
Grażyna Gęsicka, MP
Arkadiusz Rybicki, MP
Stanisław Zając, MP
Edward Wojtas, MP
Wiesław Woda, MP
Sebastian Karpiniuk, MP
Grzegorz Dolniak, MP

Janusz Kochanowski, Ombudsman

SÅ‚awomir Skrzypek, President of the Polish National Bank

Janusz Kurtyka, President of the Institute of National Remembrance (state institution for historical research)

bishop Tadeusz PÅ‚oski

and the chiefs of every arm of the Armed Forces.


(Post edited by GiacJr to include important info)

[Tsub0]

I am Polish and I woke up today, and heard the bad news :S 

[Hawks]

I know, I saw it in Israel forum website and decided to post it.
President+His wife+About 130 people.
They were about to land in some Airport in Russia, and all was foggy, untill the plane crashed in a TREE!

[Tsub0]

Yeah.. The most important people of Poland were in the plane.

[9r2e5i3k]

All major radio and TV stations in Poland are talking about it. Not much to talk about though, there are only official informations available, rest are blocked. Polish news reporters' voices are breaking, as well as politicians'.

Horrible.

[Hawks]

I don't know what happens today..

[rJCaiG]

that's not good;

AROUND 130 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and other Polish officials, were killed when their plane crashed as it came in to land at Smolensk airport in western Russia, Russian news agencies reported.

"It clipped the tops of the trees, crashed down and broke into pieces," the governor of the Smolensk region, Sergei Antufiev, told Russia-24 television news network by telephone.

There were no survivors when the Tupolev 154 crashed, Antufiev.

Earlier reports from Russian news agency ITAR-Tass reported earlier 87 people had died, but several sources including Reuters were reporting as many as 132.

Polish foreign ministry spokesman Piotr Pszkowski said the Polish president, accompanied by his wife, the army chief of staff and Deputy Foreign Minsiter Andrzej Kremer were on board the plane.

The head of Poland's national bank, Slawomir Skrzypek, was also among the dead, his spokesman told Bloomberg, as well as the Polish deputy speaker.

The Polish government was to hold an extraordinary meeting soon, Reuters reported.

Mr Kaczynski, the identical twin brother of former prime minister Jaroslaw, was on his way to attend commemorative ceremonies at the forest of Katyn in western Russia where 22,000 Poles were killed by Soviet troops 70 years ago.

The crash of his plane occurred three days after Putin and his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, together attended a memorial for the victims of the massacre at Katyn.

The Putin-Tusk meeting there was seen as a huge symbolic advance in Russia's often thorny relations with Poland.

source

[Makaveli]

Honestly I don't know ANYTHING about the president but him and the people may rest in peace who died in this tragic episode.

[Hawks]

 :pop:

[Pablo]

Tragic. All i can say.

[Courage]

Russian media reported that 87 people were killed in the crash near Smolensk, and a regional governor was quoted as saying there were no survivors.

Polish officials said Mr Kaczynski was on board along with his wife Maria and several senior government figures.

They were in Russia to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, when Soviets killed thousands of Poles.

The Russian emergencies ministry told Itar-Tass news agency the plane crashed at 1056 Moscow time (0656 GMT).


 
Lech Kaczynski is thought to have been on board with his wife
Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova said it had been flying from Moscow to Smolensk, but had no details on the identities of those killed.

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," he said.

"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.

"We are clarifying how many people there were in the [Polish] delegation. According to preliminary reports, 85 members of the delegation and the crew."

The Polish Foreign Ministry said the president and his wife were aboard the plane.

Central bank governor Slawomir Skrzypek was also said to have been on board.

Infomation from BBC.com

add: Russian investigators said there were a total of 132 people on the plane.
The president was flying in a Tupolev 154, a plane that was designed in the 1960s and capable of carrying more than 100 passengers

[Hawks]

1960, are they poor to buy personal airplane? or they do not afraid to take their life risks?

[9r2e5i3k]

The president was flying in a Tupolev 154, a plane that was designed in the 1960s and capable of carrying more than 100 passengers

While it had it's age, the plane design has good aerodynamics (better of a Boeing 7x7). The President's plane had extra safety checks.

Rather than the plane, the bad weather is blamed. The airport needed visibility at least 800 meters, while the fog reduced it to 500 meters. The plane crashed on it's 4th landing attempt.

[EliteTerm]

It's the Presidental Plane.

[Eminem.]

It is a tragedy...May the souls of the dead rest in peace....