Polish President, Dignitaries Killed in Plane Crash

[redrumloa]

http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/po ... 2F19434298

Poland's president, his wife and some of the country's most prominent military and civilian leaders died this morning when their plane crashed while coming in for a landing in thick fog in western Russia.

Russian and Polish officials gave differing death tolls but agreed there were no survivors.

President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria were heading to Russia's Smolensk region to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, where Soviet secret police killed thousands of Polish officers during World War II.

"The Polish presidential plane did not make it to the runway while landing. Tentative findings indicate that it hit the treetops and fell apart," Smolensk's governor, Sergei Anufriev, told Russian TV. "Nobody has survived the disaster."

Russian officials said the plane was carrying 96 people, while Poland's foreign ministry put the figure at 88.

Local media showed footage of the crash site, where firefighters sprayed water on smoldering wreckage strewn through a wooded area. A tail fin with Poland's red and white flag colors stuck up from the debris. The plane reportedly went down less than 400 yards from an airport runway.

There was no word yet on what caused the crash. Poland's presidential plane was a Soviet-built Tupolev TU154M, at least 20 years old. Officials have long considered replacing the Polish fleet, but said they lacked the funds. The exact plane involved in today's crash was fully overhauled in December, including repairs to three engines and updating navigation equipment, an aviation director told Russian TV. He said there was no doubt that the plane was flightworthy.

According to the Aviation Safety Network, there have been 66 crashes involving Tu-154s, including six in the past five years. Russia recently withdrew its Tu-154 fleet from service.

Also among the dead were the chief of staff of the Polish army, the national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers.

"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," the country's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Piotr Paszkowski, told The Associated Press. "We can assume with great certainty that all persons on board have been killed."

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

Wow. Wonder how that will shift the playing field. Wonder who the backup government is and which way they lean.

 

[Glaucus]

Well, according to this BBC report, he's already replaced by Bronislaw Komorowski, Kaczynski's main rival who just happens to be a strong Russian supporter.

Interestingly, Poland's pro-Russian prime minister Donald Tusk flew to Katyn on his own to commemorate the massacre along side Putin earlier in the week.

It would be interesting to see what the other high ranking passengers on that plane thought about Russia, and how their replacements might differ. Overall, another great tragedy for Putin.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

It would be interesting to see what the other high ranking passengers on that plane thought about Russia, and how their replacements might differ. Overall, another great tragedy for Putin.

I'm just amazed that they had so many top people on one plane. What were they thinking? Maybe the wanted to bring a lot of Russian assets just for insurance. Maybe.

Still, accidents happen - even convenient ones - but I'm not very trusting of such things.

 

[Glaucus]

I know what you mean. I know big companies have policies where only a certain amount of top execs are allowed on any single air craft at a time, you'd think a nation like Poland would have something similar (or maybe they did but it was just overlooked for some reason?). And yes, hard to say this is anything more then an accident but at the same time I'd demand a very thorough and transparent investigation. However, this happening on Russian soil makes me think that's not likely to happen.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

, this happening on Russian soil makes me think that's not likely to happen.

The other "convenient" thing. So no matter what kind of debris or "residue" they find - the plane will have "hit trees" for ever and ever.

 

[ltstanfo]

, this happening on Russian soil makes me think that's not likely to happen.

The other "convenient" thing. So no matter what kind of debris or "residue" they find - the plane will have "hit trees" for ever and ever.

Here we are in agreement. How very odd... and convenient (for Russia) that the Poles on the aircraft were mainly pro western. I also found it somewhat "revealing" that Putin "personally" took charge of the investigation rather then let the Russian ICAO lead as they normally would.

Maybe it really is a horrible tragedy but given the what, who and where...

Regards,
Ltstanfo

 

[Glaucus]

The other convenient thing is that with the remaining Polish leadership being pro-Moscow, they are far less likely to push Russia for transparency.

 

[cecilia]

it's a a horrible tragedy no matter how you look at it.