Polish President and Top Officials Die in Plane Crash

Polish citizens mourn the death of Polish President Lech Zaczynski and many other Polish leading military and civilian officials who died Saturday April 10, 2010 in a tragic plane crash near Smolensk in western Russia. Zaczynski was visiting Russia to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the massacre of Polish prisoners by Joseph Stalin's secret police in a forest not far from the crash site.

According to The Washington Post, Russian investigators have suggested that the crash which killed over 90 people can be blamed on human error on the part of the pilot rather than on technical problems with the plane.

The plane had been trying to land in Russia on Saturday when it was advised by air traffic control to land elsewhere due to dense fog in the area.

It has been speculated that the pilot, Captain Arkadiusz Protasiuk was asked by someone on board the plane to land in Smolensk rather than divert to an airport in Minsk or Moscow so as not to be late for the ceremony in Katyn forest, reports The Washington Post.

According to The Washington Post, after decoding the cockpit recorders Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov stated in a press release that, "It has been confirmed that the crew in a timely manner received a warning about adverse weather conditions and a recommendation to land at another airport."

Despite both the flight controller and flight supervisor concluding "that there were no conditions for landing,"according to The Washington Post, the pilot proceeded to try and land with an instrument landing system, ILS, which the airport was not equipped with. According to The Washington Post, the airport was a former military air base that was only used for infrequent official visits. The airport does not have permanent traffic controllers and are only employed when necessary.

Among the 96 victims was not only the polish president, but his wife Maria, the deputy parliament speaker, the deputy foreign minister, head of the National Bank of Poland and several other senior military chiefs. Polish officials Monday were trying to fill these vacant government positions, but are in no rush to do so.

The crash does not pose any threat to the stability of the Polish government, claimed The Washington Post. The government is rooted in both the European Union and the NATO alliance which will stabilize the country during its transition into new power. The president typically does not have the power to decide policy; he only holds the power of veto over the rest of the government. The Polish economy is also fairly stable and does not foresee being greatly affected.

According to The Washington Post, economists at Unicredit said, "Despite the terrible loss for Poland, the impact on the main economic variables should remain limited especially given the stability of the Polish economy."

Officials do not want to rush into appointing new officials, but a special joint session on Tuesday, April 13 will be held to discuss setting a date for the new presidential vote.    

According to The Washington Post, acting president Bronislaw Komorowski addressed his nation stating, "Today in the face of such a drama our nation stays united. There are no divisions into left and right, differences of views don't matter. We are together in the face of this tragedy."

Komorowski has declared a national week of mourning and a two minute moment of silence on Sunday, April, 28 at noon.