All 132 on board killed in plane crashMore than 80 people have died after a TU-154 plane crashed near an airport outside Smolensk in western Russia. The Polish president and his wife, who were among the passengers, are among the victims.
TU-154 was serving a flight from Warsaw to Smolensk. Polish Foreign Ministry reports President Lech Kaczynski and his wife were on board the plane.
The president was heading for a personal visit to the memorial site where Polish officers were murdered during World War II.
The mobile phones of everyone who was with the President are no longer working, according to officials.
The Polish presidential aircraft, a Tupolev-154, was attempting to land at Severny airport in Smolensk in thick fog, a Russian investigative committee reports. It crashed 300-400 meters off the landing path, Itar-Tass news agency reports, citing sources in Russia’s Emergencies Ministry.
According to preliminary analysis, the cause of the accident lies with the flight crew, Russian investigators claim.
There are reportedly no survivors of the crash, Smolensk region governor, Sergey Antufyev said, speaking to Russia’s Vesti-24 news channel.
“At landing the presidential plane didn’t make it to the runway. Prelimenary information has it that the plane became caught on the tops of the trees, crashed and disintegrated. There are no survivors of this crash,” Antufyev said.
The governor specified there were 85 people from the presidential delegation and the flight crew on board the aircraft.
Law enforcement officials in Smolensk region confirm there were no survivors of the crash, Itar-Tass news agency reports.
Earlier Russia’s Investigative committee reported there were 132 people at the plane.
Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev has set up a commission, headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, to investigate the accident.
Meanwhile Russian Emergencies Minister Sergey Shoigu is flying out to the crash site.
Polish cabinet of ministers to hold urgent session in Warsaw.
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