Poland president dead as west Russia plane crash kills 132

Polish president Lech Kaczynski was killed on Saturday as his plane crashed on approach to Smolensk airport in western Russia, local officials said.

One hundred and thirty-two passengers in total were on board the plane, Polish officials told Haaretz, adding that the crash appeared accidental and that so far there was no suspicion of a terror attack.

There was no indication as to whether the crash was caused by a technical failure or human error.
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Poland's foreign ministry confirmed that the president and his wife, Maria, were aboard the plane. Polish state news agency PAP said there were no survivors in the crash, recorded at 10:50AM local time some 400km west of Moscow.

The Russian-built Tupolev Tu-154, which was over 20 years old, airplane went down some 1.5km from Smolensk airport in foggy conditions. The plane reportedly struck trees as it approached the airport and caught fire. The flames have since been extinguished.

Polish sources told Haaretz that despite a recent upgrade, the Smolensk airport not been fitted with special anti-fog radar common in the West.

A Polish official said the head of the Polish army and the head of the presidential administration were also on board the plane, along with the central bank governor and the other senior officials.

"The plane caught fire after the crash. Teams began attempting to pull out passengers from the badly damaged airplane," said a Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman in Warsaw.

Kaczynski was due to visit Smolensk to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, when Soviet troops killed 22,000 Poles. Planned ceremonies in Katyn were called off. Attendees said they would instead pray for the victims of the plane crash

The Polish government will hold an extraordinary meeting later on Saturday, the government press office said in a statement.

Bronislaw Komorowski, the speaker of Poland's parliament and a former defense minister will take over as interim president, sources told Haaretz.

Komorovski had already been named as a candidate to succeed Kaczynski following elections later in 2010.

Kaczynski, 60, became president in December 2005 after defeatingcurrent Prime Minister Donald Tusk in that year's presidential vote. The nationalist conservative was the twin brother of Poland's opposition
leader, former prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski

Source: haaretz.com/