Polish president killed in air crash near Russia's Smolensk

Published 10 April, 2010, 21:40
Edited 19 April, 2010, 23:39

All 96 people on board have died after a Polish presidential TU-154 plane crashed near an airport outside Smolensk in western Russia. The Polish president and his wife were among the killed.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski was heading for a personal visit to the Katyn memorial site where Polish officers were murdered during World War II.

Also, among the passengers aboard the doomed airplane were the last president of the anti-Communist Polish government-in-exile in London; Ryszard Kaczorowski, head of the National Security Office; Aleksander Szczyglo; presidential aide Pawel Wypych; presidential aide Mariusz Handzlik; Deputy Parliament Speaker Jerzy Szmajdzinski; Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer; head of the Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Franciszek Gagor; head of the National Bank of Poland, Slawomir Skrzypek; and Janusz Kurtyka, head of the National Remembrance Institute.

There are no survivors of the crash, Smolensk region governor, Sergey Antufyev said, speaking to Russia’s Vesti-24 news channel. There were 89 members of the presidential entourage and eight crew members on board.