Polish President among 90+ dead after an air crash.

[TheBigotBasher]

Poland has suffered its worst political disaster since the second world war after its president, Lech Kaczynski, and dozens of top government officials were killed when their plane crashed in thick fog in western Russia this morning.

At least 96 people died when the Tupulov aircraft clipped some trees on its approach to Smolensk airport. It then broke up, killing everyone on board. Russian TV showed pictures of the upended wing and smouldering fuselage.

Those killed included Kaczynski's wife Maria, the army chief of staff, the head of the national bank, Poland's deputy foreign minister, three members of parliament, and at least two presidential aides, the Polish foreign ministry said. Rescuers today said they had found several bodies and were trying to identify them.

Kaczynski had been flying to Smolensk to attend the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, where Soviet secret police executed 15,000 Polish officers in one of the most notorious incidents of the second world war. In a further tragic twist, family members of the Katyn victims were on board the president's plane. Others were waiting at the airport to meet him.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/10/polish-president-kaczynski-killed-crash

[elocs]

1. Yes, I think I've heard about that today. Once or twice. Even on the DU home page. n/t

[blogslut]

2. That's awful

What a horrible thing.

[kenny blankenship]

3. Anyone hear if Andrzej Wajda was on board?

Great Polish film director, who made a film about the Katyn massacre in 2007 (have not seen it). His father was an officer and a victim at Katyn. He would seem just the sort of well-known person that the government would invite to attend.

[G_j]

4. a serious tragedy nt

[kgnu_fan]

5. Important people should not travel together nt

[tuckessee]

6. What do you suggest? 90 different flights for 90 VIP's?

I think Poland will get along fine despie the loss of those people.

The crash is a spectacular news story but hardly an earth shaking event.

[Betty Karlson]

7. A few other prominent among the dead:

(Source: Le Nouvel Observateur)

- President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria Kaczynska

- Former head of the Polish government-in-exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski

- Jerzy Szmajdzinski, deputy chairman of the parliament - and a left wing candidate in the elections that had been scheduled for this autumn.

- Krzysztof Putra, the other deputy chairman of the parliament.

- Krystyna Bochenek, deputy chairwoman of the senate

- Slawomir Skrzypek, president of the National Bank of Poland

- General Franciszek Gagor, supreme commander of the joint Chiefs of Staff.

- General Tadeusz Buk, general commander of the Army

- General Andrzej Blasik, general commander of the airforce

- Admiral Andrzej Karweta, general commander of the Navy

- General Wlodzimierz Potasinski, who commands the Polish equivalent of the marines.

- General Bronislaw Kwiatkowski, who is in charge of operational Polish troups (like the ones in Afghanistan).

- Bishop Tadeusz Ploski, Roman-Catholic pastor to the Polish troops

- Archbishop Miron Chodakowski, Orthodox pastor to the Polish troops

- Presidential Chief of Staff Wladyslaw Stasiak,

- Aleksander Szczyglo, director of the presidential bodyguard

- Mariusz Handzlik and Pawel Wypych, secretaries to the president

- Stanislaw Jerzy Komorowski, Deputy minister of defense

- Andrzej Kremer, deputy minister of foreign affairs

- Tomasz Merta, deputy minister of the arts and culture

- Janusz Kurtyka, director of the Institute for National Memorial

- Andrzej Przewoznik, director of the Council in charge of places of national remembrance

- Janusz Kochanowski, ombudsman for civil rights

- Andrzej Sarjusz-Skapski, president of the Association of the families of Katyn

- Czeslaw Cywinski, president of the Association of the Former Resistance.

- Agata Agacka-Indecka, president of the national Association of Barristers

- Anna Walentynowicz, a pivotal heroin in the early days of Solidarity.

And the list goes on and on...

[jakeXT]

8. "Landing systems’ incompatibility may have caused the crash" – military analyst

Speaking to RT, defence analyst and former Polish military pilot Mikhal Fisher noted a previously unmentioned factor that possibly was one of the reasons for the crash.


"In the Soviet Union/Russia they use a unique instrumental landing system called PRMG. It works almost exactly the same way as the international Western system ILS. However, the two are not compatible. The Polish airplane was modified to use the ILS, as the airplane was mainly flying to various airports that use it," Fisher told RT.

http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-04-10/landing-systems-kaczynski-crash.html

Interesting, anybody with knowledge about this on DU ?

[BlueIris]

9. Oh, my God.

That is terrible. How will the country cope with something like that?