Polish President Killed In Plane Crash
133 people onboard were killed in the crash, no report of survivors
The plane owned by Polish govt crashed near a military airport in Smolensk, western Russia, killing Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 132 others, Russian media reported.
Poland’s President seen preparing for flight to Lithuania on Thursday.
The plane, an aging Tupolev 154, flying from Moscow to Smolensk clipped treetops, fell to the ground, caught fire and disintegrated, Smolensk regional governor Sergei Antufiev told Russian TV, adding that none of the people onboard had survived the crash.
Freeze frames from RT (Russian TV) news report showing parts of the Tupolev 154 plane that crashed earlier killing the right-wing Catholic polish President, Lech Kaczynski, his wife and 131 others onboard (April 10,2010).
“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 plane caught fire after the crash. Teams began attempting to pull out passengers from the badly damaged airplane,” according to Polish Foreign Ministry in Warsaw.
According to various reports, citing the Polish Foreign Ministry, the president was accompanied by his wife, Polish Army Chief of Staff General Franciszek Gagor, the country’s central bank governor Slawomir Skrzypek and dozens of senior officials and top military brass.
“The mobile phones of everyone who was with the President are no longer working, according to officials.” Pravda reported.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the plane crash was “the most tragic event of the country’s post-war history.”
“Mr Kaczynski has been a controversial figure in Polish politics, advocating a right-wing Catholic agenda.” BBC reported.
A political commentator, who wishes to remain anonymous, said to Fire-Earth Moderators, noting that the crash had been caused by pilot error: “Ironically, if anyone wanted to stage a coup in Poland, they would have had to remove exactly the same set of people who were killed in the air crash.”
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