Polish Gov't wiped out. Others also dead.

David · Apr 10, 2010

Some of the confirmed dead are:

Lech Kaczynski, the President of Poland
Maria Kaczynska, the first lady
Ryszard Kaczorowski, the last President of the Polish government-in-exile
Jerzy Szmajdzinski, Deputy speaker of Sejm (Polish Parliament)
Wladyslaw Stasiak, Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration
Aleksander Szczyglo, head of the National Security Bureau
Pawel Wypych, Secretary of State in the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland
Mariusz Handzlik, Undersectretary of State for International Affairs
Andrzej Kremer, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
General Franciszek Gagor, Chief of the Polish Army General Staff
Andrzej Przewoznik, Secretary-General of Rada Ochrony Pamie;ci Walk i Me;czen'stwa
Grzegorz Dolniak, member of the Sejm
Przemyslaw Gosiewski, Deputy Prime Minister of Poland
Zbigniew Wassermann, member of the Sejm
Janusz Kochanowski, Polish Ombudsman
Slawomir Skrzypek, President of the National Bank of Poland
Janusz Kurtyka, Historian and president of the Institute of National Remembrance
Bishop Tadeusz Ploski
Gen. Bronislaw Kwiatkowski (Commander Operations)
Gen. Andrew Blasik (Air Force Commander in Chief)
Gen. Tadeusz Buk (Commander of Land Forces)
Gen. Wojciech Potasinski (Commander of Special Forces)
Vice Admiral Andrzej Karweta (Commander in Chief of the Polish Navy)
Gen. Casimir Gilarski (Commander, Training)

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/04/10/poland.president.plane.crash/index.html?hpt=T1

The President, 1st Lady, cabinet and military brass are all dead along with other major figures. The death toll is currently at 97 total.

myp · Apr 10, 2010

Certainly an unfortunate tragedy. Hopefully the family members of the victims and the people of Poland can have a healthy grieving process and successfully rebound from this afterwards.

deanhills · Apr 11, 2010

Amazing that they should put so many of the top brass and Government and Church leaders into one plane. Also quite ironic in a way that they were all on the way for a slaughter of Poles by Russians commemoration and they were killed in a Russian plane. Guess the Polish military will think twice before they board a Russian plane again.

David · Apr 11, 2010

deanhills said:
Amazing that they should put so many of the top brass and Government and Church leaders into one plane. Also quite ironic in a way that they were all on the way for a slaughter of Poles by Russians commemoration and they were killed in a Russian plane. Guess the Polish military will think twice before they board a Russian plane again.

It was the Polish Air Force 1...

deanhills · Apr 12, 2010

David said:
It was the Polish Air Force 1...

Right .... EVERYONE knows that ... but the plane was a Russian plane, manufactured and maintained by a Russian aviation maintenance company Aviakor:

The president was flying in a Tupolev 154, a Soviet-designed plane that was more than 20 years old.

Our correspondent says there had been calls for Polish leaders to upgrade their planes.

Mr Kaczynski himself had suffered scares while using the plane in late 2008, when problems with the aircraft's steering mechanism delayed his departure from Mongolia.

"Any flight brings with it a certain risk, but a very serious risk attaches to the responsibilities of a president, because it is necessary to fly constantly," he was quoted as saying at the time.

But the head of Russia's Aviakor aviation maintenance company told Russian TV the plane was airworthy, after his plant fully overhauled it in December.

BBC News

Astonix · Apr 14, 2010

Definitely unfortunate that such a thing would happen and Poland must be in despair. I do wonder why so many of them were on the plane at once though, especially on a 20 year old plane?

deanhills · Apr 14, 2010

Astonix said:
Definitely unfortunate that such a thing would happen and Poland must be in despair. I do wonder why so many of them were on the plane at once though, especially on a 20 year old plane?

Exactly, that was always like a recipe for a disaster.

el canadiano · Apr 14, 2010

It's definitely such a shame that a majority of an entire nation's leaders went kaput just like that.

I doubt it's foul play. There were reports stating that it was very foggy before the crash.

Dirk · Apr 18, 2010

Wow, 97 dead? The 25'000 that died of hunger-related causes that day seem so unimportant now! [/dark sarcasm]

porsteamboy · Apr 23, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/world/europe/16poland.html?scp=1&sq=black%20boxes%20yield&st=cse http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/832.html Now the conspiracy theories begin.

porsteamboy · Apr 23, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/world/europe/16poland.html?scp=1&sq=black boxes yield&st=cse http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/832.html Now the conspiracy theories begin.

Dirk · Apr 23, 2010

porsteamboy said:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/world/europe/16poland.html?scp=1&sq=black boxes yield&st=cse http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/832.html Now the conspiracy theories begin.

I hate when this happens, it's insulting to the deaths of conscious human beings.

deanhills · Apr 29, 2010

el canadiano said:
It's definitely such a shame that a majority of an entire nation's leaders went kaput just like that.

I doubt it's foul play. There were reports stating that it was very foggy before the crash.

Right, also the Polish pilots had not followed the advice of the Russian Ground Control. The Ground Control advised the Polish pilots not to land. Who knows, maybe one of the many powerful decision makers on the plane gave instructions to the pilots to continue anyway.

Polish Gov't wiped out. Others also dead.

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