Polish presidential plane crash

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday she was deeply shocked by the plane crash which cost the life of Polish president Lech Kaczynski and many top officials in Russia.

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"I am deeply shocked by the plane accident and the death of the Polish president," she told journalists on arriving at the Bundeswehr (German army) headquarters in Potsdam, outside Berlin.

Kaczynski, 60, was killed when the Tupelev 154 jet carrying him and 131 other people crashed neared Smolensk airport, about 275 miles west of Moscow.

It is believed the plane hit trees as it was approaching the runway in thick fog at around 11 a.m. local time Saturday and then caught fire. Pictures from the scene showed charred parts of the airplane strewn across a wooded area.

The regional governor told Russian television there were no survivors. Polish officials have also said that everyone on board the plane was killed.

Along with President Kaczynski and his wife, several prominent military and civilian leaders died, including the army chief of staff, Gen. Franciszek Gagor, National Bank President Slawomir Skrzypek and Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer.

They were all flying to a Katyn for a commemoration of Russian and Polish victims of Soviet leader Josef Stalin.

In Warsaw, Prime Minister Donald Tusk called an extraordinary meeting of his cabinet and the national flag was lowered to half-staff at the presidential palace.
In the case of a Polish president's death, the speaker of the lower chamber of parliament takes over as head of state.

Poland's president is commander-in-chief of its armed forces but the position's domestic duties are chiefly symbolic.

AFP/The Local (news@thelocal.de)






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFL9L7-6yCU&feature=player_embedded

Poor Lech Kaczynski. . I too did heard on my news they were flying through thick fog and they were flying too low and they crashed and the plane started burning! No one should ever fly through thick fog!

To be honest, I'm polish guy too but I'm sick of this already. It's been a year now and the subject cannot be closed. Why just people can't understand that families of dead people don't want to hear about it anymore? Why can't we just let it go? Nobody cares about their feelings because Polish people just love to complain, complain and whine then for next 5 decades. Of course I know it was very important situtation for us but not for a year! We can hear all the time something about it on every step.
Even here, on OMSI forum !! Gimme a break bro...jeez Poland is a really annoying country, I wish to born somewhere else..... We had a mourning already!! HAD!!

When Kaczyński was alive everyone was laughing at him and joking. But when he died: What a big transformation! Every single polish person became a patriot and then whole country said how good he was.
If you look at it, he didn't actually do anything. Our goverment only argue with each other.

Japan is a great example. Look what happened to them!! Look how water destroyed them!! Did they cry?? Of course not, cuz it's not going to change anything. Time to weak up and focus: how to improve Poland, but at the moment we are just ruining this what we were fighting for in the past. End of story, all from me.