A nation in mourning: Investigation begins into plane crash that killed Poland's president and dozens of country's ruling elite

By Mail Foreign Service

Warsaw residents placed candles at the gate of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw this morning


Pilot error blamed as witnesses report three or four attempts to land in thick fog

At least 97 dead after plane came down in woodland

Army chief and national bank supremo also killed in disaster

London-based Polish parish priest among the dead


Poland was in mourning today after the president and many members of the country's political and military elite were killed in a plane crash in Russia.

An investigation was underway after the plane crashed as it made its fourth attempt to land in thick fog at a military airport close to the western Russian city of Smolensk.

Russian officials say pilots ignored warnings that they were flying too low.

President Lech Kaczynski and his party were on their way to a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre - the slaughter of more than 20,000 Poles by the Soviet secret police and an event that has soured relations between the two countries for decades.


A Polish man mourns at the site where Polish government Tupolev Tu-154 plane crashed near Smolensk airport


London-based Polish parish priest Reverend Canon Bronislaw Gostomski was also revealed to have perished in the crash.

More than 400 Polish people attended a Saturday evening service at his parish church St Andrew Bobola in Hammersmith, west London.

The Queen led the British tributes to the President and other victims of the crash.

The Prince of Wales also expressed his sadness, along with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Tory leader David Cameron.


'A black day for Poland': The death toll included the country's President and wife, its central bank head and the country's military chief along with other senior government and military figures


In pieces: The wreckage of the Polish president's plane lies in woodland near Smolensk airport in Russia


Wreckage: The fuselage of the plane lies in woodland near Smolensk airport


Despite bad weather being blamed for the crash, analysts said there would inevitably be speculation in Poland that the Russians were somehow involved.

It was not the first time the presidential plane - a 26-year-old Russian-made Tupolev-154 - had encountered difficulties.

It had been grounded during a state visit to Mongolia 16 months ago owing to technical problems, leaving the Polish leader to charter a private jet for the next stage of his tour to Japan.

There have been 16 crashes involving Tupolev-154s since 1994, killing 1,727 people, and Poles have been asking why their president was using an aircraft with such a poor safety record rather than fly with the Polish state airline LOT whose entire fleet is Western-made.

The Tupolev clipped the tops of trees as it tried to land at Smolensk, lurching sideways and breaking into pieces. Wreckage including engines and a large part of the red and white tail were strewn over a forest less than a mile from the runway.

Radio communication with the plane had been lost just before 8am yesterday. Last night questions were being asked about the actions of the pilot, who was killed along with all 96 passengers and crew.


A mourner in Hammersmith, west London, lays a tribute to parish priest Reverend Canon Bronislaw Gostomski, who was killed in this morning's plane crash


Russian sources said he had received repeated warnings from air traffic control about the dangerous weather conditions and had been advised to cut short the flight and land at Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

Reports from Moscow, which were not officially confirmed, said these concerns had been passed by the flight crew to 60-year-old President Kaczynski but he had wanted to get to Smolensk because he was anxious not to miss the commemoration ceremony, which was to have been attended by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Mr Putin later said he would personally lead a commission of inquiry into the accident, while the Polish authorities announced that they would hold their own investigation into what commentators described as one of the worst tragedies to befall the country since the Second World War.

Edward Lucas, a leading expert on East European affairs, said: 'Although there is no evidence that the crash was caused by sabotage, many Poles will think foul play was involved because of the historical parallels with Katyn.


Grief: A huge crowd of mourners gather in front of the Presidential Palace to pay tribute to late Polish President Lech Kaczynski, in Warsaw, Poland, today


'This is a colossal tragedy for Poland, which has so often seen its elite wiped out by emigration, mass murder or foreign occupation.'

Lech Walesa, the former shipyard electrician who inspired his country's return to democracy 21 years ago, gave voice to the deep suspicions that many Poles still have for their Russian neighbours when he said: 'This is unimaginable. It is Katyn No2.'

Special church services were held across Poland and crowds left flowers and candles outside the presidential palace in Warsaw.

Among those who died were Mr Kaczynski's wife Maria, relatives of Katyn victims and dozens of senior politicians and military commanders.


Tributes: Thousands of Poles flooded the streets around Warsaw's presidential palace on hearing news of the plane crash which killed Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria


source: dailymail