Warsaw, April 10 (Inditop.com) Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria were killed with some 130 people when their plane crashed Saturday while preparing to land in Russia in foggy weather, officials said.
The accident took place when the Russian-built Tuplilov 154-M reportedly struck some trees and caught fire as it approached the airport in the city of Smolensk in western Russia.
They were going to Russia to participate in an official ceremony in Katyn, where 20,000 Poles were killed by Soviet forces during World War II.
The delegation included Jerzy Szmajdinski, a former defence minister, and Slawmir Skrzpek, president of the Polish National Bank.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry confirmed the fatalities. Poland’s foreign ministry press secretary Petr Paszkowski confirmed that the president was on board.
It seems all the top officials of the Polish presidency have perished.
Meanwhile, the speaker of the Polish parliament, Bronislaw Komorowski, has arrived here from Gdansk to take charge as president till a new election is called.
Poland was engulfed by gloom. Prime Minister Donald Tusk returned to Warsaw for an emergency meeting of the cabinet.
