Plane carrying the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, his wife and other high-ranking officials crashed in a heavy fog in western Russia on Saturday morning, killing all aboard, Polish officials said. The plane, which was carrying 132 people, caught fire as it was approaching the airport in Smolensk, probably from hitting some trees at the end of the runway. The plane had attempted to land in very heavy fog, which obviously blemish or lessen the pilot's vision.
Russian and Polish officials offered conflicting death tolls but agreed there were no survivors on the Soviet-era Tupolev, which was taking the president, his wife and staff to events marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police.
