Poland plunged into grief by death of president Skip to main content

Poland plunged into grief by death of president

04/11 | 11:02 GMT
©AFP / Janek Skarzynski
Mourners in Warsaw turned out by the tens of thousands on Saturday
SMOLENSK, Russia (AFP) - Investigators trawled through flight recordings and debris Sunday to work out why pilots of a jet crash which killed Poland's president ignored warnings not to land, as the nation began a week of mourning.

Tens of thousands of people poured onto the streets of Warsaw and other Polish cities to show their grief after the plane came down in thick fog near the Russian city of Smolensk, killing 96 people including President Lech Kaczynski and a host of top state, military and religious officials.
The president's identical twin brother, former premier Jaroslaw Kaczynski, was among the first relatives to go to Russia to identify the victims.
The bodies of the president and his wife were to arrive in Poland at 1200 GMT, Polish radio reported, while the country was also due to hold a two minutes silence.
Russia ordered a day of national mourning for Monday.
Scene: Candles and tears for Poland's tragic president
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is leading an official investigation into the crash on Saturday, but Russian officials have already said the Polish pilots ignored air traffic control warnings that they were too low.
©afp.com
VIDEO: Poland plunged into grief by death of president. Duration: 01:05
Fragments of the fuselage, air traffic control recordings and the plane's "black boxes" are being studied in the probe into the causes of the crash, Russia's investigative committee said in a statement.
"Investigators together with aviation experts are studying the flight recorders," the statement said.
It added that "fragments taken from the destroyed plane" and "recordings of the communications with air traffic controllers" were also under review.
A Russian transport ministry spokesman said the voice and data recorders were at a special laboratory in the presence of Polish officials, including representatives of the Polish state prosecutor.
Russia's top investigator Alexander Bastrykin and over 40 senior specialists are now working at the crash site.
The Russian-built Tupolev Tu-154 jet was taking the presidential party to a memorial service for 22,000 Poles massacred by Soviet troops in World War II when it hit tree tops in fog while approaching Smolensk airport.
©AFP/Graphic
Russian news agencies said pilot error had come under immediate suspicion
The symbolism of the president's mission to a country which has long been a rival of Poland only added to the national shock over the deaths.
Tens of thousands of mourners gathered in front of the presidential palace in Warsaw and the nearby Pilsudski Square. They prayed, sang the national anthem, waved the red and white Polish flag and laid a carpet of candles and flowers in the national colours.
Kaczynski's populist nationalism often made him a divisive figure at home and in Europe. But the nation united in grief.
Profile: Kaczynski, from child star to Polish president
"It's my heart that told me to come here, I simply had to come," said 45-year-old translator Anna Ciostek, who went to the square with her daughter and mother.
Bronislaw Komorowski, the head of Poland's lower house of parliament who took over as interim head of state, joined the throng in Pilsudski Square.
"The unprecedented scale of this tragedy is unique on a global scale," he told AFP.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Jaroslaw Kaczynski went to the crash site late Saturday where they were met by Putin.
©AFP/Ria Novosti/Pool / Alexey Nikolsky
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (right) and his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk lay wreaths at the crash site
Besides the 60-year-old head of state, the crash killed his wife Maria, Poland's military chief of staff and the heads of the main services, its central bank governor, an archbishop and members of parliament.
"Everything must be done to establish the reasons for this tragedy in the shortest possible time," said Putin.
The Tu-154 had already made three approaches to Smolensk airport when it crashed in the fog, according to witnesses and airport officials. At least one other plane had been diverted to another airport.
Lieutenant General Alexander Alyoshin, deputy head of the Russian air force, said the Polish pilots had ignored warnings from air traffic controllers that they were too low.
"The head of the (air traffic control) group ordered the crew to return to horizontal flight, and when the crew did not fulfil the instruction, ordered them several times to land at another airport," he said.
"Nonetheless the crew continued to descend. Unfortunately this ended tragically."
Reax: Shock and sorrow at Kaczynski death
Wreckage was scattered across a forest, but the black-box flight recorders were quickly found.
©AFP / Daniel Mihailescu
The bodies of the president and his wife were to arrive in Poland today
The crash was only a few kilometers (miles) from the Katyn Forest where the delegation was to have attended a memorial service for the Polish officers and troops killed in 1940 by Soviet troops acting on orders from Josef Stalin.
The service was intended to help reconciliation between Poland and Russia, two decades after the end of the Cold War and the ensuing demise of communism.
Polish communities around the world held their own special church services while global leaders expressed condolences.
US President Barack Obama remembered "a distinguished statesman... dedicated to advancing freedom and human dignity."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was "deeply shocked", while French President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed Kaczynski as a man "driven by ardent patriotism, who dedicated his life to his country."

AFP
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera

The Life Story of A Distinguished And Outstanding Bhikkhu The Most Venerable Saradawpharagree Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera The Buddhist missionary Saradaw Ashin U Chandramani was endowed with great gifts and led a famous and long life. He was a very well known, distinguished and outstanding Bhikkhu Mahathera. While living in the Kushinagar Monastery, a place close to where the Lord Buddha had passed away to Nirvana, the Government of India had offered, and he had accepted, the highest, most honourable and respected title "Guru Guru MahaGuru". He became the first ever President of all Buddhists in India.A World Buddhist Conference took place in Kathmandu during the reign of King Mahindra of Nepal. The Conference was very well attended by over one hundred thousand Buddhists from various parts of the world and it was opened by King Mahindra himself. As requested by the King, Saradawpharagree blessed all the participants with the power of Triple Gems...
Post a Comment
Read more

Yangon’s Hero, Wielding Power of Stop and Go

By THOMAS FULLER NOV. 21, 2014 Sgt. Khin Myint Maung directing cars in Myanmar’s largest city, where his accolades are also an indictment of others’ corruption. Credit Tomas Munita for The New York Times YANGON, Myanmar — For 12 hours nearly every day, Sgt. Khin Myint Maung stands in one of the most chaotic intersections in this chronically gridlocked city, untangling traffic snarls with patience and unflagging good humor. It is not the most likely résumé for a recipient of a hero of the year award from a leading daily newspaper, or designation as a “role model” officer by the Yangon police force or a “real-life hero” by a German foundation. But the 26-year-old from the provinces, only recently promoted to sergeant, has earned all those awards, rising to fame purely by word of mouth. It is nearly impossible to find a taxi driver in Yangon who does n...
Post a Comment
Read more

Three Dead, Seven Injured by Artillery Shells in Two Incidents in Myanmar’s Mrauk-U

By MIN AUNG KHINE 2 December 2019 Sittwe, Rakhine State –Three Mrauk-U township residents died and four others were injured when an artillery shell struck their community in the Ale Zay quarter of Mrauk-U town on Monday afternoon after 4 p.m. A month-old girl, a 4-year-old boy and a 30-year-old woman died, according to Dr. Khin Maung Yin, the head of Mrauk-U hospital. He said, “A man and three other women were injured. One of the women sustained severe injures to her left leg and her right knee was dislocated. The injured will be operated on.” Details of what occurred were not yet known. A few hours earlier, three civilians were injured when an artillery shell fell on the village of Na Leik in Mrauk-U Township, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, on Monday at around 1 p.m., according to Yan Aung Pyin village-tract administrator U Sein Hla Aung. Two females, aged 13 and 27, and an 18-year-old male were injured in the incident, he said. Three people were hit by shrapnel and we have...
Post a Comment
Read more