Plane carrying Polish President crashes; 87 feared dead

TestTransmission

It is being reported that a plane carrying Polish president Lech Kaczynski has crashed, with 87 people feared dead.

According to Reuters , the crash occurred on approach to Smolensk airport in western Russia. The plane was flying from Warsaw.

ITAR-Tass news agency cites emergency officials as saying 87 people were killed in the crash.

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

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/plane-carrying-polish-president-crashes-87-feared-dead-453334.html

galwayrush

Doesn't look like there will be any survivors. Shocking news.

krieture

Not looking good

angel01

Very sad news

kosa

NOBODY SURVIVED :-(

OutlawPete

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qmi5fDGMok

KittyeeTrix

That's awful:(

Ghost Train

kosa wrote: »

NOBODY SURVIVED :-(

sounds like there might have been survivers

Polish president Lech Kaczynski was feared dead after his plane crashed on approach to a Russian airport this morning, a Polish government official at the airport told Reuters.

Russian news agencies reported at least 87 people died in the crash near Smolensk airport in western Russia, citing the Russian Emergencies Ministry.

They reported 132 people were aboard the Tupolev Tu-154.
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Polish state news agency PAP said there were no survivors.

The Polish government official in Smolensk said there was no information about survivors.

The crash occurred about 1.5 km from Smolensk airport in foggy conditions.

The official said the head of the Polish army and the head of the presidential administration were also on board the plane, along with the president's wife and families of other senior officials.

'The plane caught fire after the crash. Teams began attempting to pull out passengers from the badly damaged airplane,' said a Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman in Warsaw.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0410/kaczynskil.html

Minstrel27

Ghost Train wrote: »

sounds like there might have been survivers

Not according to several news channels.

IvySlayer

Shocking news. RIP.

Spore

Russian plane carrying Polish President and other Polish establishment figures crashes in Russia on the way to the Katyn memorial... This is gonna get political.

dermo88

This is very sad news, and I would like to offer my condolences to the Polish people on this tragedy.

Sadly, its only a matter of time before the conspiracy theorists start going into overdrive on this incident. Russian-Polish relations over the centuries make the relationship between Ireland and England look like friendly neighbours.

opinion guy

Minstrel27 wrote: »

Not according to several news channels.

Which means exactly diddly squat. In this day of 24hour news if they don't know something they will hazard a guess and correct it later.

Anyhow, sad news

Edit: Out of interest - is the Polish president powerful like the US one, or a figurehead like our one ?

Dunjohn

He's somewhere in between. Most of the power lies with the PM Donald Tusk but Kaczyński had a good bit of influence. The fact that they came from different parties and pretty much hated the sight of each other (and Kaczyński's twin brother had been PM before Tusk) made Polish politics quite interesting.

I didn't usually agree with Kaczyński's politics but this really is a tragedy.

Run_to_da_hills

I'm surprised they would allow the president up in a TU154, Aeroflot have already dropped all these ancient Soviet built aircraft from their fleet.

jayteecork

Seems like half the Polish cabinet was on board, awful news.

wikipedia wrote:

According to the flight manifest onboard were among others:

* Lech Kaczyński, the President of Poland
* Maria Kaczyńska, the first lady
* Ryszard Kaczorowski, the last President of the Polish government-in-exile
* Jerzy Szmajdziński, Deputy Speaker of the Sejm
* Władysław Stasiak, Chief of the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland
* Aleksander Szczygło, head of the National Security Bureau
* Paweł Wypych, Secretary of State in the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland
* Mariusz Handzlik, Undersecretary of State in the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland
* Andrzej Kremer, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
* General Franciszek Gągor, Chief of the Polish Army General Staff
* Andrzej Przewoźnik, Secretary-General of Rada Ochrony Pamięci Walk i Męczeństwa
* Grzegorz Dolniak, member of the Sejm
* Przemysław Gosiewski, member of the Sejm
* Zbigniew Wassermann, member of the Sejm
* Janusz Kochanowski, Polish Ombudsman
* Sławomir Skrzypek, President of the National Bank of Poland
* Janusz Kurtyka, Historian and president of the Institute of National Remembrance
* Bishop Tadeusz Płoski, Polish Military Bishop (2004)
* Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka

Coriolanus

opinion guy wrote: »

Edit: Out of interest - is the Polish president powerful like the US one, or a figurehead like our one ?

Wikipedia wrote:

Poland is a democracy, with a president as a head of state, whose current constitution dates from 1997. The government structure centres on the Council of Ministers, led by a prime minister. The president appoints the cabinet according to the proposals of the prime minister, typically from the majority coalition in the Sejm. The president is elected by popular vote every five years

Sounds similar to ours.

BlazeTheCat

The list of those, who died (the most important ones)

Lech Kaczyński - the President

Maria Kaczyńska - the First Lady

Ryszard Kaczorowski - last Polish President in exile

Jerzy Szmajdziński - Vice Speaker of the Lower House (left wing leader)

Krzysztof Putra - Vice Speaker of the Lower House

Władysław Stasiak - chief of the President's Chancellary

Aleksander Szczygło - chief of the Office for National Security

Paweł Wypych - presidential Secrtetary of state

Mariusz Handzlik - as above

Andrzej Kremer - vice Minister of Foreign Affairs

gen. Franciszek Gągor - chief of staff of the Polish Army

Przemysław Gosiewski - rigth wing prominent politician

Zbigniew Wassermann - as above

Janusz Kochanowski - Polish ombudsman

Sławomir Skrzypek - chief of the Polish National Bank

Janusz Kurtyka - chief of the institute for the National Rememberance

Bishop Tadeusz Płoski - Catholic field bishop of the Polish Army (head Catholic chaplain)

Archbishop Miron Chodakowski - Orthodox field bishop of the Polish Army

And many many more,that`s just the most important people

banquo

That's awful. My commiserations.

BlazeTheCat

According to polish minister of foreign affairs there was 87 not 130 passangers on board

Hagar

Some countries have all the luck.

Pride Fighter

Nevore wrote: »

Sounds similar to ours.

Its not. The Polish president would be a half way house between ours and the US president. He has some power, more than ours but not as much as the US president.

asgaard

Very sad news and a hard time for Poland

RIP

Minstrel27

1st wrote: »

Some countries have all the luck.

You really are hillarious.

Pride Fighter

I'm impressed with the AHers class. Thread open over an hour and not a single swan joke.

bonerm

Minstrel27 wrote: »

You really are hillarious.

He's only saying what many of us are thinking. Although that said I wouldn't want Biffo, Harney, Coughlan and the rest to die in an accident as it would just turn them into folk-heroes instead of giving them the undignified exit at the ballots which they all deserve.

sdanseo

bonerm bog right off I've no sympathy for many Irish politicians but I don't wish death in a plane crash on any of them; it's way too soon for bull of that calibre.

Terribble stuff for Poland, sad day indeed (I work with several polish people) - RIP those who died.

Lenny

1st wrote: »

Some countries have all the luck.

Lol yea that was low

Hagar

Pride Fighter wrote: »

I'm impressed with the AHers class. Thread open over an hour and not a single swan joke.

Swans can fly.

That'll have to do, I'm very busy.

Mister men

Pity our shower don't use that airline.:(

dilallio

According to Piotr Krasko, a reporter with TVP on a BBC News interview, the plane crashed just 200 metres from the runway on the 4th landing attempt.

bonerm

dilallio wrote: »

According to Piotr Krasko, a reporter with TVP on a BBC News interview, the plane crashed just 200 metres from the runway on the 4th landing attempt.

Most crashes occur directly after take off or before landing iirc.

Hagar

bonerm wrote: »

Most crashes occur directly after take off or before landing iirc.

They all occur on landing don't they?

Ghost Train

1st wrote: »

They all occur on landing don't they?

not the mid-air ones

homerjay2005

wow. terrible tragedy.i am watching on polish tv now,terrible stuff.

Kasabian

To all the Polish on Boards and the thousands of others in Ireland, my condolences.

Sad news to wake up to.

This is genuinely quite shocking.
Poland has come on so much in the last 10 years and alot of people on that plane helped that.. Rip.

asgaard

http://www.dominikanie-dlapolakow.ie/ - mass at 3 pm. in Dominican Church in Dublin.

Owen

Herself's phone lit up this morning with this news. Even though he was a completely useless president and appointed his identical twin brother as vice president, it's still a sad day for Poland.

alwaysadub

Wow,that's awful news.
RIP.

Do countries usually send so many officials on the same plane? I would've thought they'd go on different flights in case something like this ever happened..

TestTransmission

alwaysadub wrote: »

Do countries usually send so many officials on the same plane? I would've thought they'd go on different flights in case something like this ever happened..

Royal families usually don't travel altogether for that reason.

Minstrel27

bonerm wrote: »

He's only saying what many of us are thinking. Although that said I wouldn't want Biffo, Harney, Coughlan and the rest to die in an accident as it would just turn them into folk-heroes instead of giving them the undignified exit at the ballots which they all deserve.

If most people are wishing death on others then we are all well and truly ****ed.

tim_holsters

Interesting that it was a TU-154 I thought most of these had been retired.

homerjay2005

bonerm wrote: »

He's only saying what many of us are thinking. Although that said I wouldn't want Biffo, Harney, Coughlan and the rest to die in an accident as it would just turn them into folk-heroes instead of giving them the undignified exit at the ballots which they all deserve.

most of us? speak for yourself...

the usual bunch of gimps will no doubt be out in force again today looking to improve their thanks rating...

DaveSlats

Looks like it may have been Presidential error.

The plane had been diverted to another airport, due to extremely poor conditions, but the pilot refused those instructions.

If they had followed the diversion the party may have missed the Katyn memorial ceremony.

The President was extremely distrustful of the Russians, and maybe thought that was the plan.

It may well be that was the one to tell the pilot to land. Pilots usually do what air control tell them to do.

UpCork

Very sad news for the families and friends of all those involved and indeed for the Polish people

herya

alwaysadub wrote: »

Wow,that's awful news.
RIP.

Do countries usually send so many officials on the same plane? I would've thought they'd go on different flights in case something like this ever happened..

It was mostly a parliamentary/presidential representation, not many members of the cabinet. The president, the PM and the parliamentary leader are not allowed to travel together but there are no restrictions for MPs. There were some important army figures though so I wonder how this came through - reason dictates they should not be on the same flight ever.

RIP Katyn, it's a terrible tragedy. I did not support the president but he was essentially a good man (in a wrong place) and his wife was a real lady. Many good people lost their lives today.

They say the crash was due to heavy fog and no ILS system at the (former military) airport. They tried to land four times and they hit the trees on the fourth attempt. Most likely human error/bad conditions and nothing to do with the plane. Ironically, two new Embrarer aircratfts for the officials were signed off to arrive in May.

bonerm

homerjay2005 wrote: »

most of us? speak for yourself...

the usual bunch of gimps will no doubt be out in force again today looking to improve their thanks rating...

Many , not most. Me likely read good.

(fyi your thanks rating has just improved)

Voodu Child

Thats terrible, sounds like a lot of people dead.

Seems unusual (to me anyway) to have so many high-ranking figures on one plane.

Son Of A Vidic

It might be a good time to pop over to the conspiracies forum.

The_Minister

I couldn't imagine what would happen in IReland if so many public figures died at once.
I'd say the people left behind are confused as to what to deal with first.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36352097/ns/world_news-europe?GT1=39002