Breaking: Plane carrying Polish president crashes in Russia; 87 reported dead

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

This just broke over MSNBC's e-mail alerts.  I'm looking for more now.

From the BBC:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Cubby]

Why did it have to be Russia! Let the conspiracy theories begin

You must be logged in to read this quote.

This just gets worse. Wasn't Kaczynski (or his twin) the one who kept bringing up World War II events at EU meetings a few years back? One of them once said that Poland should be given voting weight commensurate with what its population would be if Hitler and the USSR hadn't invaded.

[Scam of God]

I'll say it first: no blood for Poland.

[2952-0-0]

This is going to be a real crisis for their government. Has there ever been an event where so many top officials of a country are killed in one go? This is something you see out of bad movies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Polish_Air_Force_TU-154_crash

[Antonio the Sixth]

Really ?

[King]

...sorry...

[King]

(AP)   Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife died Saturday along with 130 others when their plane crashed while coming in for a landing in western Russia, officials said.

The governor of the Smolensk region, where the crash took place about 11 a.m. local time, said no one survived.

"The Polish presidential plane did not make it to the runway while landing. Tentative findings indicate that it hit the treetops and fell apart," Sergei Anufriev said on state news channel Rossiya-24. "Nobody has survived the disaster."

The Polish foreign ministry confirmed that Kaczynski and his wife were aboard the plane.

The head of Russia's top investigative body, Sergei Markin, said there were a total of 132 people on the plane, a Tu-154.

[Silent Hunter]

A great tragedy. My thoughts and prayers are with the families.

[GMantis]

What's so terrible about this is that it happened near Katyn.  Polish commentators have already drawn an analogy:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/world/europe/11poland.html

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

For some posters: It's not funny. No, there are no conspiracy theories anywhere to hear, you idiots.

As much as I didn't support the President, that's a great tragedy and we just lost half of the governing class and there were various people from various options.

Not to mention pilots, staff etc. etc.

So if you have such comments, shut up please. It's really not a time.

[J. J.]

Tragic on so many levels.  Here is a partial list of victims:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Polish_Air_Force_Tu-154_crash

[Antonio the Sixth]

Damn it. Such things should never happen.

[hawkeye59]

My condolences to President Kaczynski and all the other victim's families.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Hard to believe. I didn't like Kaczynski, but this is dreadful. That they were so near to Katyn (and were either going there or returning from it; my hearing isn't too great and I'm not sure which of those the man on the telly said) is just so... well... you know.

[You kip if you want to...]

My thoughts are with the victims and the rest of Poland today.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Hard to believe. I didn't like Kaczynski, but this is dreadful. That they were so near to Katyn (and were either going there or returning from it; my hearing isn't too great and I'm not sure which of those the man on the telly said) is just so... well... you know.

Yes, unpleasant coincidence about date and place.

There's one more thing we should remember. As much as I didn't ever supported him, he was a head of state. Also there are victims from all political options. Well, I knew personally two killed officials, who were from leftist parties.

Not to mention unnamed pilots, staff...

[You kip if you want to...]

What happens now with so many Sejm and Senat members in the accident?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

What happens now with so many Sejm and Senat members in the accident?

We're all here are asking the same question right now.

[Hash]

Holy flipping sh**t. This stuff usually happens only in movies. Condolences to all victims, of course.

[k-onmmunist]

Damn, this surprised me. In a bad way. Condolences.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

There already are many voices asking how the hell could delegation be as large.

Well, we have the President dead, two Deputy Sejm Speakers (including Social Democratic presidential nominee), number of MPs, all of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, number of high-ranking, one ambassador, our equivalent of the Chairman of the Reserve Board, Onbudsman, other generals, one former President... in one single crash.

From constitutional point of view it's not any decapitation. Council of Ministers is all in place, Sejm Speaker became Acting President, military posts fulfilled.

But this is unprecedented crisis.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Just heard a seriously sick joke about this. Ah, the internets.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Just heard a seriously sick joke about this. Ah, the internets.

I already heard about ten until 3.00 PM, normal.

[k-onmmunist]

I expect my friend will be sending me one soon, as he usually does when something like this happens.

[Sam Spade]

The conspiracy-interested part of me, as always and especially given the facts and circumstances, is that the Russians are behind it.

Anyway, I'll ask the local Polish immigrants here today what they think of it.