Polish President Lech Kaczynski 'in plane crash'

SMOLENSK, Russia - Polish president Lech Kaczynski was feared dead after his plane crashed on approach to a Russian airport on Saturday, a Polish government official at the airport told Reuters.

Russian news agencies reported at least 87 people died in the crash near Smolensk airport in western Russia, citing the Russian Emergencies Ministry. They reported 132 people were aboard the Tupolev Tu-154.

Polish state news agency PAP said there were no survivors.

The Polish government official in Smolensk said there was no information about survivors. The crash occurred about a mile from Smolensk airport in foggy conditions.

The official said the head of the Polish army and the head of the presidential administration were also on board the plane, along with the president's wife and families of other senior officials.

"The plane caught fire after the crash. Teams began attempting to pull out passengers from the badly damaged airplane," said a Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman in Warsaw.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36352097/ns/world_news-europe/

Oh dear.

Damn that sucks.

My heart goes out to everyone in Poland, and anyone else affected by this.

Searched for a few other articles on it, a few says he died, a few says he is feared dead. One says the plane's maximum capacity was 90, another said 87 people died, then another 132.

=/ This kind of news always sucks.

Kaczynski, the identical twin brother of former prime minister Jaroslaw, was on his way to attend commemorative ceremonies at the forest of Katyn in western Russia where 22,000 Poles were killed by Soviet troops 70 years ago.

The crash of his plane occurred three days after Putin and his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, together attended a memorial for the victims of the massacre at Katyn.

The Putin-Tusk meeting there was seen as a huge symbolic advance in Russia's often thorny relations with Poland.

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/04/10/105459.html

That's very sad, but hopefully they'll find some survivors.

I'm betting there won't be any. Plane fires burn REALLY hot.

All passengers confirmed dead. This includes all of the military commanders save the armed forces.