Polish President and many political leaders killed in plane crash;

Poland has been plunged into mourning by the deaths of President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of political and military leaders in a plane crash.

The jet crashed as it attempted to land at Smolensk air base in Russia in thick fog, killing all 97 people on board.

Russian officials have said the pilots ignored warnings from air traffic control to divert to another airport.

A week of mourning has been called in Poland where a two-minute silence will be held at noon (1000 GMT) on Sunday.

Russia has also declared Monday a day of mourning for the victims, whose remains have been flown to morgues in Moscow.

Relatives of the dead have begun arriving in the Russian capital, officials there said.

'Tragic ending'

Thousands of people gathered at the presidential palace in Warsaw on Saturday to lay flowers and light candles.

 WWII.

The Tupolev 154 came in to land at 1056 Moscow time (0656 GMT) on Saturday morning.

Witnesses said the plane approached Smolesnk air base with its left wing pointing to the ground. It clipped trees as it came down and crashed, scattering debris across a forested area.

The deputy head of Russia's air force said the pilots ignored repeated requests from air traffic controllers to divert the flight to another airport to avoid the heavy fog around Smolensk.

About 1.5km (0.9 miles) from the air base, air traffic controllers noticed the jet was below the scheduled gliding path, said Lt Gen Alexander Alyoshin.

Ground control "ordered the crew to return to horizontal flight, and when the crew did not fulfil the instruction, ordered them several times to land at another airport," he added.

"Nonetheless the crew continued to descend. Unfortunately this ended tragically."

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he would personally oversee the investigation into the crash.

"Everything must be done to establish the reasons for this tragedy in the shortest possible time," he said as he visited the crash site.

Mr Putin was joined by the late president's identical twin brother, himself a former prime minister, and Mr Tusk to lay wreaths at the plane's wreckage.

'Beyond belief'

All bodies were recovered and were being taken to Moscow by helicopter for identification.

Russia's Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu said both of the plane's flight information recorders had been found and were being examined.

As well as the president and his wife, Maria, a number of senior officials were on the passenger list.

They included the army chief of staff Gen Franciszek Gagor, central bank governor Slawomir Skrzypek, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer and members of parliament.

"We are completely devastated and shocked," Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski told the BBC.

"People have just been to church, to a mass, people are crying."

He added: "We could not have conceived a more horrible, poignant, tragic occurrence than our president going to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the murder of 20,000 Polish officers at Katyn, himself dying with his wife, with the army commander, with parliamentarians, with the head of the national bank. It's just beyond belief."

Prime Minister Tusk said the business of government would continue.

The parliamentary speaker, Bronislaw Komorowski, has now become the acting president.

"Today in the face of such a drama our nation stays united," he said in a televised address.

"There is no division into left and right, differences of views don't matter. We are together in the face of this tragedy."

He said he would, according to Poland's constitution, set the date for a presidential election after consulting with political parties.

The election must be held by late June, instead of the previously scheduled date of October.

Mr Komorowski is the presidential candidate for Mr Tusk's ruling pro-euro and pro-free market Civic Platform party.

Previous scares

The president's Tupolev 154 was a Soviet-designed plane that was more than 20 years old.

The twin brother of late Polish President Lech Kaczynski visits the crash site

The BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw says there had been calls for Polish leaders to upgrade their planes.

Mr Kaczynski himself had suffered scares while using the plane in late 2008, when problems with the aircraft's steering mechanism delayed his departure from Mongolia.

"Any flight brings with it a certain risk, but a very serious risk attaches to the responsibilities of a president, because it is necessary to fly constantly," he was quoted as saying at the time.

But the head of Russia's Aviakor aviation maintenance company told Russian TV the plane was airworthy, after his plant fully overhauled it in December.

World leaders including Mr Putin, US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown offered their condolences to Poland.

Mr Kaczynski, who as president had fewer powers than the prime minister but had a significant say in foreign policy, was a controversial figure in Polish politics.

He had advocated a right-wing Catholic agenda, opposed rapid free-market reforms and favoured retaining social welfare programmes.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8613778.stm

We lost wise and brilliant people yesterday…

Top Bad News !

We lost a wise leader.

We lost a Good President and many good friends.

Extremely painful mourning !

Hi,

I didn't know him or them.

But when a nation lose many of great administrators,just in one moment,It would be one of the  historical and tough time for them.

Hope God bless all good people.

This accident shocked me too.

wish Polish people can tolerate it .

regards

God, it is horrible tragedy for us. Every tv-chanells talk only about this, radio don't play a musick. Everybody around are crying. We can't accept such painful loss.

Thank you world for beeing with us.

 I think we should emphasize here an admirable attitude of Russia. Thank you friends.

My condolences to Turkey's crony Polish people .