Saturday, April 10, 2010

Polish President's Plane Crashes

Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife were killed today (April 10th) when their plane crashed over Russia. 87 people were aboard and there were no survivors as the plane crashed when attempting to land. The Polish President was in Russia to attend the anniversary of when Polish officers were killed at the beginning of World War 2 by the Soviet Union.

Obviously this is a horrible tragedy and the people of Poland must truly be taking this hard. Losing the President of your country must be incredibly difficult for the health of the country as a whole and the political issues that crop up. At this point there is nothing to do but hope that everything remains stable and calm in Poland and that the victims of the plane crash did not suffer in any way.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/world/europe/11poland.html

14 comments:

Emily said...

This is really tragic.. 87 people, including the presidnet and top political officials of Poland. I also hope the families and everyone in Poland remain calm and are able to patch up the political gaps.
-Emily Niemann

Colin Yan said...

I agree with emily. THis is terrible and i hope that the polish people will be able to remain calm as well. Losing teh president of their country is terrible and will bring many hardships for them. HOpefully, the hard times won't last too long.

devin_yan said...

This is such big news.. yet i never saw any news of it on the web or on tv, why is that. I hope that the polish people will not be too devastated with their loss.

Mark Sherwood said...

Not just the president and his wife but "Ryszard Kaczorowski, who led a government in exile during the Communist era; the deputy speaker of Poland’s Parliament, Jerzy Szmajdzinski; the head of the president’s chancellery, Wladyslaw Stasiak; the head of the National Security Bureau, Aleksander Szczyglo; the deputy minister of foreign affairs, Andrzej Kremer; the chief of the general staff of the Polish Army, Franciszek Gagor; the president of Poland’s national bank, Slawomir Skrzypek; and the commissioner for civil rights protection, Janusz Kochanowski."

This is a horrible horrible event. My sorrow goes out to Poland.It will be a rocky year for the people and their government.

The new Kevin (a.k.a Kevin Kwan) said...

The entire head of government down in one go.

Who's the temporary leader now?

The new Kevin (a.k.a Kevin Kwan) said...

I wonder if this is just an accident. Maybe there is some foul play involved. A plane full of top government officials would be an irresistable target for its opponents.

Serena said...

This is such a tragic post. I am sure the news will cover this incident. In the meantime, I give everyone in Poland my sympathy.

Anders said...

As a follow up I was actually talking to my uncle visiting from Sweden and he was explaining how Swedish top officials are never allowed to travel too many at one time in airplanes just in case of something terrible like this. I actually thought this was a great idea and wish Poland had a similar policy with there top government officials. Hopefully they will be able to cope during their grieving and come out alright.

Dana said...

In addition to everyone else, I really sympathize for the tragedy that the Polish people are going through. In response to Anders's follow up comment, I too wonder why so many important Polish government officials were traveling in one plane together, I thought most countries had some sort of policy like we do in the U.S (ex. how the president and vice president never travel on the same plane and during the State of the Union with the "designated survivor").

Talia Y. said...

I agree with Anders and Dana. So many important people were killed with one plane crash and to prevent it they top officials and leaders should have been split up. I saw another article today stating that the pilot of the plane was told that the weather was not safe for landing but ultimately it is the pilot's decision. It is really sad that this horrible accident could have been avoided..This wasn't just a freak accident where something went wrong within the plane but rather..it was the weather that lead to too difficult a landing in teh thick fog..Hopefully Poland can get through this crisis!

The new Kevin (a.k.a Kevin Kwan) said...

It's heartwarming to see all of you support the Polish citizens in the aftermath of a catastrophe. It's ironic and unfortunate that if the same fate befall our current government, the conservatives would throw parties all over the US and celebrate.

Anders said...

Now Kevin that's just BS and you know it, even die hard conservatives who want a new president don't want to see Obama dead merely a person they agree with more in his place. There is a huge difference between wanting a different president and wanting the current one actually killed. I think your comment was not meant seriously but let's not have such radical statements that are just trying to start something.

The new Kevin (a.k.a Kevin Kwan) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sabina hussain said...

Wow this is tragic. I hope that the people of poland are trying to handle this as best they can. hopefully they can move forward and find a new president who can hold and represent his position strongly. Alot of catching up but they will be able to do it.