Polish president killed in plane crash

(CNN) -- Polish President Lech Kaczynski was killed early Saturday when the plane he was traveling in with his wife and a Polish delegation crashed at a western Russian airport, according to the Russian regional governor.
"There are no survivors," said Smolensk Governor Sergey Antufyev, according to his spokesman.
A spokesman for Poland's Foreign Ministry, Piotr Paszkowski, said earlier that it was probable that everyone on board was killed.
The numbers varied on how many people were on board the plane. The Polish Foreign Ministry said 89 people died in the crash. The Russian Investigation Committee put the number at 132.
President Kaczynski, 60, had been traveling with a Polish delegation to Russia for the 70th anniversary of the massacre of Polish prisoners of war in the village of Katyn. Some 20,000 Polish officers were executed there during World War II.

The plane was approaching the airport at Smolensk, Russia -- just a few miles east of Katyn -- and probably hit some trees at the end of the runway, Paszkowski said.
The Investigation Committee of the Russian prosecutor's office said the plane, a Tupolev-154, was trying to land in heavy fog.
Pictures from the scene showed parts of the airplane charred and strewn through a wooded area. Some pieces, including one of the wheel wells, were upside-down.
The crash happened around 10:50 a.m. (2:50 a.m. ET) on the outskirts of the town of Pechorsk, just outside of Smolensk, the Investigation Committee said.
Kaczynski had been president since December 2005 after he defeated rival Donald Tusk in the second round of voting. Tusk is currently prime minister.
Crowds gathered at the presidential palace in Warsaw to lay flowers and light candles for the president, whose death raises questions for Poland's government.
"Everything has changed today," said Jan Mikruta, a reporter for TV Polsat.
Tusk and Polish cabinet ministers were holding a special meeting Saturday morning to discuss the situation, said a spokeswoman for the Polish Parliament, who declined to be named because she was not authorized to speak publicly.
Under Polish law, if something happens to the president, leadership transfers to the Parliament speaker, who is Bronislaw Komorowski, the spokeswoman said.
She said more information would come out after the meeting.
"There is going to be a huge gap in public life in Poland," said resident Magdalena Hendrysiak. "The most important people are dead."
At the same time, Hendrysiak said, the president's death may have a unifying effect.
"I think it will be one of those situations that no one will care about their political preferences," she told CNN. "I think we're going to end up as pretty united in the face of such a tragedy."
Condolences poured in from around the world Saturday, including from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who was campaigning in Scotland.
Brown praised the contributions Kaczynski had made to Polish independence.
"This is a horrible tragedy," said Philip Crowley, the U.S. assistant secretary for public affairs. "We extend to the people of Poland our deepest condolences."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he learned of Kaczynski's death with "great emotion and a deep sadness" and expressed his sympathy to the families of the president and other victims.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai also expressed his condolences, as did the chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
"I offer my deepest condolences to the Polish people and to the families of those killed in this tragic accident. Our hearts go out to you in this difficult time," said OSCE Chairman Kaunat Saudabayev, who is also the secretary of state and foreign minister of Kazakhstan.
A partial list of those killed was published on the Web site of President Lech Kaczynski's Law and Justice Party:
Lech Kaczysnki -- Polish president
Maria Kaczynska -- The president's wife
Ryszard Kaczorowski -- Poland's last president-in-exile
Aleksander Szczyglo -- head of the National Security Office
Pawel Wypych -- presidential aide
Mariusz Handzlik -- presidential aide
Jerzy Szmajdzinski -- deputy parliament speaker
Andrzej Kremer -- Deputy Foreign Minister
Gen. Franciszek Gagor -- head of the army chief of staff
Andrzej Przewoznik -- minister in charge of WWII memorials
Slawomir Skrzypek -- head of the National Bank of Poland
Janusz Kurtyka -- head of the National Remembrance Institute
Przemyslaw Gosiewski -- lawmaker
Zbigniew Wassermann -- lawmaker
Grzegorz Dolniak -- lawmaker
Janusz Kochanowski -- civil rights commissioner

Bishop Tadeusz Ploski -- army chaplain