Dash Posted April 10, 2010 Report Share Posted April 10, 2010 (edited) SMOLENSK, Russia – Polish President Lech Kaczynski and some of the country's highest military and civilian leaders died on Saturday when the presidential plane crashed as it came in for a landing in thick fog in western Russia, killing 97, officials said. Russian and Polish officials said there were no survivors on the 26-year-old Tupolev, which was taking the president, his wife and staff to events marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre in Katyn forest of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police. The crash devastated the upper echelons of Poland's political and military establishments. On board were the army chief of staff, the navy chief commander, and heads of the air and land forces. Also killed were the national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, Olympic Committee head, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers, the Polish foreign ministry said. Although initial signs pointed to an accident with no indication of foul play, the death of a Polish president and much of the Polish state and defense establishment in Russia en route to commemorating one of the saddest events in Poland's long, complicated history with Russia, was laden with tragic irony. -Yahoo A list of some of the people that died. * Lech Kaczyński, the President of Poland* Maria Kaczyńska, the first lady* Ryszard Kaczorowski, the last President of the Polish government-in-exile* Jerzy Szmajdziński, Deputy Speaker of the Sejm* Władysław Stasiak, Chief of the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland* Aleksander Szczygło, head of the National Security Bureau* Paweł Wypych, Secretary of State in the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland* Mariusz Handzlik, Undersecretary of State in the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland* Andrzej Kremer, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs* General Franciszek Gągor, Chief of the Polish Army General Staff* Andrzej Przewoźnik, Secretary-General of Rada Ochrony Pamięci Walk i Męczeństwa* Grzegorz Dolniak, member of the Sejm* Przemysław Gosiewski, member of the Sejm* Zbigniew Wassermann, member of the Sejm* Janusz Kochanowski, Polish Ombudsman* Sławomir Skrzypek, President of the National Bank of Poland* Janusz Kurtyka, Historian and president of the Institute of National Remembrance* Bishop Tadeusz Płoski, Polish Military Bishop (2004)* Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka Wow...this is a tragic blow for the Polish government, would be for any government. Edited April 10, 2010 by Dash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdog17k Posted April 10, 2010 Report Share Posted April 10, 2010 Wow, that's terrible... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owner Real Deal Posted April 10, 2010 Owner Report Share Posted April 10, 2010 Whoa, that's a huge, huge chunk of their government leaders. That has to be pretty devastating to not only the families, but the entire country as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcstarheel Posted April 10, 2010 Report Share Posted April 10, 2010 That is crazy. I don't know why you chance a dangerous landing when you have 20 or so leaders of the country on board. They might not recover from that for years to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xx. Posted April 10, 2010 Report Share Posted April 10, 2010 (edited) Terrible, terrible tragedy... nothing like this has ever happen The people in Poland are absolutely devastated Polish people are one of the strongest and most hard working people, we recovered from the Soviet Union well and hopefully we will do the same thing here. April has been a tough month lately, John Paul II also died in April and now this.. Dont understand why all the officials would be on one plane, unbelieveable.. Edited April 10, 2010 by NeTs15VC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lkr Posted April 10, 2010 Report Share Posted April 10, 2010 damn, when I heard about why they were going and all the people on board, I instantly thought it might be some conspiracy set up. this is just crazy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dash Posted April 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2010 ^Conspiracy theorists are gonna go nuts over this and I can't really blame them, this was too much of a coincidence. I think it may have been the plane's (seriously a 26 year old plane?) or the pilot's fault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sun Tzu Posted April 11, 2010 Report Share Posted April 11, 2010 Heard about this yesterday.. that's some terrible news to hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GamerGuy Posted April 11, 2010 Report Share Posted April 11, 2010 What a terrible, terrible tragedy. I can't even fathom what the entire country is going through right now. Just seems so surreal. I can't help but wonder how this will affect my missions trip over there this summer. Poland is hurting, I just hope that we'll be able to help, somehow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Need4Sheed Posted April 11, 2010 Report Share Posted April 11, 2010 Can you imagine the riots and conspiracies in USA if this happened to Obama? Would be a effin joke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJNJ Posted April 18, 2010 Report Share Posted April 18, 2010 ^I was wondering that when I first heard about this news days ago on the morning news. It's beyond craziness. No word describes this tragedy alone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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