Polish President’s plane crashed near Smolensk (photo, video)

About 100 persons including the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński and his wife were on the plane Tu-154 which crashed in Smolensk oblast.

“Interfax” was informed about that by the spokesperson of the Russian Prosecutor General's Investigations Committee. "President Kaczynski's Tu-154 airplane crashed when landing near the town of Pechorsk, Smolensk region, in heavy fog. There were 132 people on board the plane, including the president and his spouse."

As said by him, on Saturday, April 10 at about 10:50 a.m. Tu-154 tried to land at “Severnyj” military airport not far from the town of Pechyorsk. The plane fell in the wooded area near Smolensk, in Kutuzov Street, Severnyj microdistrict.

Among the passengers were the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński, and his wife Maria Kaczyńska, Władysław Stasiak, Chief of the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland, General Franciszek Gągor, Chief of the Polish Army General Staff, Tadeusz Płoski, bishop of the Military Ordinariate of the Polish Army, Andrzej Przewoźnik, Secretary-General of the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites, Jerzy Szmajdziński, Deputy Speaker of the Sejm, who previously served as Minister of Defence, and was a candidate for President of Poland in the 2010 election, Aleksander Szczygło, head of the National Security Bureau and other high-ranking officials, politicians and public leaders. The crew of the plane was from the air group of the president.

The Russian Prosecutor General's Investigations Committee considers three versions of the plane’s crash. They are bad weather, a pilot’s error and plane’s troubles. Earlier with e reference to sources to power structures it was said that the plane crash is likely to be attributed to human factor.

“Information about the dead is being checked,” the source in the Russian Prosecutor General's Investigations Committee said.

According to Polish mass media, the plane was lending in heavy fog. The liner touched trees, failed to reach the landing ground and fell. Smolensk oblast governor said there were no survivors.

Earlier the Foreign Ministry of Russia informed that Polish President Lech Kaczyński planned to visit Katyn (Smolensk oblast) on April 10.

On April 10 at the Polish military cemetery in Katyn annual memorial events organized by the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites were planned. The Polish delegation at the events was to be headed by Lech Kaczyński.