The Polish president Lech Kaczynski died after his plane crashed as it approached a Russian airport, killing 130 people.
Lech Kaczynski became the president of Poland in December 2005 Photo: AP
Poland was left stunned by the news that their president, his wife, and a whole tier of the Polish elite had been killed.
A television newsreader fought back tears as she relayed the news that the head of the Polish army and the head of the presidential administration were also on board the plane, along with the president's wife and families of other senior officials.
The plane was also carrying the governor of Poland's central bank, Slawomir Skrzypek.
Sergei Antufiev, the regional governor of the Smolensk, said that everyone on board had been killed.
"It clipped the tops of the trees, crashed down and broke into pieces," Mr Antufiev, told Russia-24 television news network by telephone. "There were no survivors." Polish state news agency PAP also said there were no survivors.
William Hague, shadow foreign minister, wrote on Twitter: "Very sad this morning about the death of Lech Kaczynski in a plane crash – a brave man who was interned by the Communists for his beliefs."
Mr Kaczynski, 60, had been president since December 2005. He was married with one daughter.
Mr Kaczynski had been flying to Katyn, near Smolensk, to commemorate Russian and Polish victims of Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
Thousands of Polish prisoners of war and intellectuals were murdered at Katyn by Soviet forces in spring 1940 in an enduring symbol for Poles of their suffering under Soviet rule.
Families of those killed at Katyn were also on board the plane, the Polish government official at the airport said.
In the case of a president's death, the speaker of the lower chamber of parliament, Bronislaw Komorowski, takes over as head of state, Mr Komorowski's assistant Jerzy Smolinski told Reuters.
Conditions around the airport were described as foggy when the Tupolev Tu-154 came down a mile from the airport.
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