April 10, 2010

A plane carrying the Polish president and dozens of the country's top political and military leaders crashed in Russia, killing everyone on board. The people on the plane were heading to the site of the Soviet massacre of Polish officers during WWII, to commemorate the anniversary of the incident (Russia and Poland were beginning to come to terms over the killing of more than 20,000 members of the Polish elite officer corps. Putin became the first Russian leader that agreed to commemorate the massacre). The plane tried to land in thick fog, but missed the runway and crashed into a forest. A top Russian military official said air traffic controllers had several times ordered the pilot not to land the plane because of the fog and recommended they reroute to another airport. Despite the warnings, the plane continued the descent.

All 97 people on board were killed. Passengers included the president of Poland, the First Lady, the deputy foreign minister, the deputy defense minister, several members of Parliament (including the Deputy Speaker of the Polish Parliament), the chiefs of the army and the navy, the president of the national bank, the head of the National Security Bureau, the commissioner for civil rights protection, the deputy culture minister, Poland's Ombudsman, the head of the Polish Olympics Commission, Anna Walentynowicz -- the 80 year old former dock worker whose firing in 1980 set off a solidarity strike that ultimately contributed to the overthrow of Polish communism, and relatives of the victims of the massacre. This is an unbelievably tragic event. A plane crash killing 97 people is a huge loss for Poland -- but even more devastating that it killed several important Polish figures. I can't even imagine what that must be like. Under Poland's Constitution, the leader of the lower house of Parliament -- who is now the acting president -- has 14 days to announce new elections, which must then take place within 60 days.

The plane was twenty years old and was designed by the Soviets in the 1960s and operated by the Polish air force. Russia had halted mass production of these types of jets about twenty years ago. Approximately 200 of them are still in service around the world. Poland officials have repeatedly requested over the years that the government's aging air fleet be replaced. It is still unclear if the plane's age played a role in the crash. (Full Story)