The Georgian Government has expressed its condolences to the Polish people following the death of President Lech Kaczynski. "Kaczynski was a great friend of the Georgian people and we express our condolences to the Polish people, friends and relatives of the president" - Georgian Prime Minister Nika Gilauri.
President of Poland Lech Kaczynski, its central bank head and the country's mili tary chief were among 96 people killed when their plane crashed in thick fog on its approach to a Russian airport on Saturday, last week. The president's wife and several other high-ranking government officials were also aboard the Tupolev Tu-154 that plunged into a forest about two km (1.3 miles) from the airport in the western Russian city of Smolensk. 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 Investigation Committee of the Russian prosecutor's office said the plane, a Tupolev-154, was trying to land in heavy fog. The crash happened around 10:50 a.m. on the outskirts of the town of Pechorsk, just outside of Smolensk, the Investigation Committee said. Pilot error was a possible reason for the crash, said Andrei Yevseyenkov, spokesman for the Smolensk local government. Local officials said the plane had clipped treetops on its way down. A Russian mission control official who had been present during conversations with the pilot told Reuters the pilot had ignored advice. "The pilot was advised to fly to Moscow or Minsk because of heavy fog, but he still decided to land. No one should have been landing in that fog," he said, on condition his name was not published. 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. Polish government spokesman Pawel Gras said the country would hold elections after the death of Kaczynski. "In line with the constitution, we will have to hold an early presidential poll," Gras said. "For now, the speaker of the lower house of parliament, Bronislaw Komorowski, is automatically ... the acting president." The election of polish president will be hold after 60 days. |
