President Kaczynski's body returns to Warsaw after a deadly plane crash - UPDATE - PHOTOS

Polish President Lech Kaczynski's body was returned Sunday to his native city of Warsaw after his death in a plane crash that also killed his wife and more than 90 people, including the plane crew and high-ranking officials.

Hundreds of Poles lined the route that took the coffin from Warsaw's airport to the presidential palace.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin saw the coffin off in Smolensk (western Russia), where the crash occurred Saturday morning. Putin held red roses as the Polish and Russian anthems were played. The coffin was draped in the white and red Polish flag and was carried on board by Russian soldiers.

Kaczynski's twin brother Jaroslaw, head of the opposition Law and Justice party, identified the president's body. The politician lay flowers and knelt at the spot where the crash occurred.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, interim President Bronislaw Komorowski and European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek were at the airport along with Jaroslaw for the arrival of the coffin.

Lech Kaczynski was en route to ceremonies in Katyn, Russia that were to mark the 70th anniversary of a Soviet massacre of some 22,000 Polish officers during World War II.

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April 11
16:47

A total of 97 people died when a plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and a delegation of senior officials crashed in west Russia on Saturday, Russia's Emergencies Ministry said, RIA Novosti reported.

The ministry spokesperson also said that 8 of the dead were crew members. In earlier reports, it was said that some 132 people were on board the plane.

Kaczynski was on his way to a ceremony in nearby Katyn to commemorate the memory of some 20,000 Polish officers killed by Soviet secret police during World War Two. The Soviet-made Tu-154 hit trees as it approached Smolensk airport in thick fog.

Russia's Rossiya-24 television aired footage of the crash scene, showing wreckage of the plane scattered across a field with the plane's wing sticking up.

The delegation also included the chief of the armed forces general staff and central bank head.

The Russian Prosecutor General's investigations committee has opened an investigation into the crash.

"The investigation is looking into various theories...including unfavorable weather, human error, and technical malfunctions," according to the statement.

Polish Foreign Ministry press secretary Petr Paszkowski said the plane crashed some 300-400 meters from the runway after catching the tops of surrounding trees. A Russian security source told RIA Novosti that "a mistake by the crew during landing maneuvers" is thought to have caused the crash.

However, Polish media said that air traffic controllers had advised the pilot not to attempt to land at the airport, suggesting that he turn around and head for Minsk, the capital of neighboring Belarus, as the military aerodrome lacked the necessary navigational equipment to receive planes in heavy fog.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to head a commission looking into the crash.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is also on his way to Smolensk. In line with the constitution, parliamentary speaker Bronislaw Komorowski has become the acting president. He is expected to announce the date of fresh elections in 14 days.

Poland will observe seven days of national mourning, Komorowski said.

"We must all come together in the face of this massive national tragedy," he added. "Today, there is no left wing and no right wing - there is no difference. We all feel for the families of the dead," he said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin have called the crash "a terrible tragedy."

Medvedev has also called for the Russian and Polish people to come together.

"In these difficult days a consolidation of peoples is very important to jointly to overcome the consequences of this terrible tragedy," a Kremlin statement quoted Medvedev as saying.

Russia will observe a day of national mourning over the crash on April 12. Putin said that bodies of the crash victims would be transported for identification to the Russian capital.

He also called Tusk to express "his condolences to him personally and the entire Polish nation in regard to the tragic airplane crash near Smolensk," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"Katyn is claiming new victims," the head of the foreign relations committee in the Russian parliament's lower house, Konstantin Kosachyov, told RIA Novosti.

The 1940 massacre by the Soviet secret police of Polish officers taken prisoner by the Red Army when it invaded the country in the first days of World W

ar Two is possibly the most painful page in relations between the two Slavic nations.
Earlier this month, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk jointly paid homage to the dead in the Katyn forest near Smolensk, the scene of the killings.


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April 10
13:50

Smolensk regional governor Sergei Antufiev told Russian TV that no-one had survived.
"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 BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw says the president was flying in a Tu154, a plane that was designed in the 1960s and capable of carrying more than 100 passengers.

The Polish Foreign Ministry said the president and his wife were aboard the plane.
Central bank governor Slawomir Skrzypek was also said to have been on board.

Mr Kaczynski has been a controversial figure in Polish politics, advocating a right-wing Catholic agenda. He has opposed rapid free-market reforms and favoured retaining social welfare programmes.

The list of officials abroad of the Polish President’s aircraft that crashed in Russia has been made public.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his spouse  Maria Kaczynskaya, Poland last’s president in exile, head of the Institute of National Remembrance, Vice Speaker of the Seimas of Poland, head of the Office of the Polish President, head of the National Security Bureau of Poland, two ministers in the Office of the President, General Secretary of the Polish Council for the Protection of the Memory of Struggle and Martyrdom, Deputy Head of the Polish Foreign Minister, Chief of General Staff of Polish Army, Chairman of the National Bank of Poland and four MPs were abroad.


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13:50

A plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski has crashed near a Russian airport, officials say, BBC reported.

Russian media reported that 87 people were killed in the crash near Smolensk, and a regional governor was quoted as saying there were no survivors.Polish officials said Mr Kaczynski was on board along with his wife Maria and several senior government figures.

They were in Russia to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, when Soviets killed thousands of Poles. The Russian emergencies ministry told Itar-Tass news agency the plane crashed at 1056 Moscow time (0656 GMT).
 
Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova said it had been flying from Moscow to Smolensk, but had no details on the identities of those killed.

Smolensk regional governor Sergei Antufiev told Russian TV that no-one had survived.

"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 Polish Foreign Ministry said the president and his wife were aboard the plane. Central bank governor Slawomir Skrzypek was also said to have been on board.

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12:53

The Tu-154, flying from Warsaw to Smolensk has crashed, according to Vesti 24 TV channel.

As many as 87 people including Polish President Lech Kaczynski were on the board of the aircraft, AFP reports AFP. According to Vesti 24, there are no survivors.

According to the polish press, the representative of Polish FM said, that the plane crashed into a tree during the landing. He also said, that the plane started to burn right after landing.

Polish President was to participate in memorial events in Katyn. He was accompanied by the official Polish delegation.

According to RIA Novosti, the plane got crashed during landing, under Smolensk (Russia). Head of Russian Information MOE Irina Andrianova said, the catastrophe occured at 11:56 (Baku time).

According to the latest reports, there were 132 people on the plane, not 87.


/Lenta.ru, Gazeta.ru, Trend/

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Photos: Trend, Reuters