What was the age of the President of Poland who was killed in a plane crash today?”
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 96, officials said. According to Svetlana Berdnikova of CBS News, Russian Channel 1 is reporting that the bad weather contributed to the crash, and that the crew was Polish and didn’t obey the orders of the dispatcher. 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 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, national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential
April 10 (Bloomberg) — Polish President Lech Kaczynski and central bank Governor Slawomir Skrzypek were killed today when their plane crashed in western Russia, where they were to mark the 70th anniversary of a massacre of Polish officers. The 60 year-old president’s wife, Maria, and several Polish officials also died in the crash, which happened as the aircraft was on approach for landing in Smolensk, Foreign Ministry spokesman Piotr Paszkowski said in a phone interview. The death toll stands at 96, the Associated Press said, citing Russia’s Emergency Ministry. The passenger list, which shows 88 people were on board, also includes the Army Chief of Staff Franciszek Gagor. Under Poland’s constitution the duties of the president will be taken over by the speaker of the lower house of parliament, Bronislaw Komorowski. He has 14 days to announce a presidential election, which must be held within two months. Komorowski was the candidate of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform party
