All people (132?) 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 killed in the crash.
TU-154 was serving a flight from Warsaw to Smolensk. Polish Foreign Ministry confirmed President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria Kaczynski were on board the plane and have been killed.
The president was heading for a personal visit to the Katyn memorial site where Polish officers were murdered during World War II.
It’s reported that the pilot had ignored warnings not to land the TU-154 plane in foggy conditions and made four attempts to land before crashing, Polish television station Polsat reports.
Windows to Russia!
PS: Update – Dmitry Medvedev was briefed on the crash of Tu-154 airplane near Smolensk:
President Medvedev ordered the establishment of a government commission headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to investigate all the circumstances of the disaster.
At the President’s instruction Minister of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief Sergei Shoigu, Transport Minister Igor Levitin, First Deputy Prosecutor General and Chairman of the Prosecutor General’s Office Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin flew immediately to the crash site.