A military plane on Sunday brought to Warsaw the body of Polish President Lech Kaczynski who died in an air crash on Saturday.
The Polish Armed Forces' guard of honor, the president's twin brother Jaroslaw Kaczynski, parliament speaker and acting president Bronislaw Komorowski, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, other officials, as well as thousands of Poles, met the plane in the Polish capital. The body was to be delivered to the presidential palace.
Kaczynski, his wife and other top officials died Saturday morning as the Soviet-made Tu-154 aircraft carrying them hit the top of trees as it attempted to land at a Smolensk airport in western Russia in thick fog. A total of 96 people on board - 88 passengers and eight crew - died.
The plane was taking Kaczynski and a delegation of top Polish officials to a ceremony to pay tribute to over 20,000 Polish officers who were executed in the Katyn forest and other locations by Soviet secret police in 1940. The officers had been taken prisoner by Soviet forces when the U.S.S.R. invaded Poland during the early days of World War Two.
Komorowski declared seven days of national mourning.
Investigation
Russian investigators, experts and Polish specialists are jointly investigating the causes of the plane crash.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who heads Russia's government commission investigating the reasons of the air crash, flew back on Sunday to the site of the plane crash to pay last respects to Kaczynski.
Alexander Bastrykin, head of Russia's Investigative Committee, on Sunday reported to Putin citing preliminary results that the deciphered records confirmed the absence of technical problems with the plane.
"The pilot was informed about complex weather conditions and, nevertheless, made a decision on landing," Bastrykin said.
WARSAW, April 11 (RIA Novosti)
