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Polish president and other officials die in plane crash.

  • 10-04-2010 11:47am
    #1
    thomond2006
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 45,433 ✭✭✭✭


    http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Polish-President-Lech-Kaczynski-Killed-When-Plane-Crashed-On-Approach-To-Smolensk-Airport-In-Russia/Article/201004215598482?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15598482_Polish_President_Lech_Kaczynski_Killed_When_Plane_Crashed_On_Approach_To_Smolensk_Airport_In_Russia

    Polish president Lech Kaczynski and other senior officials are among dozens of people killed when their plane crashed in western Russia.

    Polish and Russian officials said there were no survivors when the jet crashed as it approached Smolensk airport.

    Russia's Emergency Ministry said there were 96 dead, with 88 were part of a Polish state delegation.

    "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," Paszkowski said. "We can assume with great certainty that all persons on board have been killed."

    Russian TV broadcast footage showing the plane's wreckage scattered in a forest with parts of it still on fire.

    "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.

    Footage showed the plane broken into numerous pieces, including engines and a huge chunk of the plane's vertical stabilizer caked in mud, strewn over a large deforested area.

    Firefighters doused portions of the plane that were still ablaze while groups of security personnel in camouflage uniforms and investigators in civilian clothes inspected the wreckage.

    The Russian foreign ministry told Interfax news agency that the plane, which was painted in red and white livery, had crashed in heavy fog.

    President Kaczynski's wife Maria, army chief of staff Franciszek Gagor, National Bank President Slawomir Skrzypek and Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer were also on board.

    MPs and historians were among the delegation travelling, along with the officials' family members.

    The crash took place around 11 am, about one mile from Smolensk airport, as the triple-engined Tu-154 plane neared the airport, 275 miles west of Moscow.

    Pilot error is suspected as a cause in the crash, according to Russia's news agency RIA Novosti.

    "The cause of the plane crash was apparently an error by the crew during the approach to landing," an unnamed official in Smolensk said.

    Polish citizens have started leaving floral and candle tributes near the presidential palace in Poland's capital, Warsaw, while official flags were lowered to half-mast.

    A new presidential election date must be announced within two weeks and an election held within the following two months.

    "In line with the constitution, we will have to hold an early presidential poll," government spokesman Pawel Gras said.

    :( RIP.


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