Polish President Lech Kaczynski

A plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski crashed near the Smolensk airport in western Russia Saturday, killing the president and all 97 people on board, said Russian officials.

The plane, a Tupolev Tu-154, was flying from Warsaw to the Russia city of Smolensk also carried the president's wife, army chief of staff, Deputy Foreign Minsiter Andrzej Kremer and the central bank governor, said Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Piotr Pszkowski.

It crashed some 1.5 km from Smolensk airport in foggy weather, Russia news agencies reported.

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Polish plane crash

"It clipped the tops of the trees, crashed down and broke into pieces," Russia-24 television news network quoted the governor of the Smolensk region Sergei Antufiev as saying.

The Russian television's broadcast live footage showed that the plane's wreckage scattered in a forest with parts of it still on fire.

The rescuers are still searching the missing black box.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has sent Minister for Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu, to the crash site and ordered the establishment of a investigation committee headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to investigate the air disaster. 

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Backgrounder

 

? Major air accidents in recent years

 

• Tu-154 plane crashes in recent years