Polish President, 131 Others Die …Nigeria Commiserates With Poland

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola (middle),his deputy, Princess Sarah Sosan (right) and Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, at the closing ceremony of the Black Heritage Festival in Badagry, Lagos State, last Friday.

Minister of Defence, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode (left), Minister of State, Defence, Murtala Yar’adua (centre) and Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Abdulrahman Dambazau at the Inspection of Shehu Yar’adua Barracks in Abuja, last Friday.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski was killed when a plane carrying 132 people crashed in thick fog while approaching a Russian airport, yesterday, killing everyone on board, officials said.

Central Bank Governor, Slawomir Skrzypek and several senior government officials were also among those on board the Tupolev Tu-154 plane, which came down as it neared Smolensk airport in western Russia.

Smolensk regional governor, Sergei Antufyev, speaking on Russian television, said there were no survivors.

Polish state news agency, PAP, also reported that there were no survivors.

Television pictures showed the burning fuselage and fragments of the plane scattered in a forest.

The crash occurred about 2km from Smolensk airport.

“The plane caught fire after the crash. Teams began attempting to pull out passengers from the badly damaged airplane,” said a Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman in Warsaw.

Kaczynski’s wife, Maria, was also on board, along with several high-ranking government officials.

They included the chief of Poland’s military, Franciszek Gagor and Deputy Foreign Minister, Andrzej Kremer.

In the case of a president’s death, the speaker of the lower chamber of parliament, Bronislaw Komorowski, takes over as head of state, Komorowski’s assistant, Jerzy Smolinski, told Reuters.

Kaczynski had been flying to Katyn, near Smolensk, to commemorate Russian and Polish victims of Soviet leader, Josef Stalin.

Thousands of Polish prisoners of war and intellectuals were murdered at Katyn by Soviet forces in the spring of 1940 in an enduring symbol for Poles of their suffering under Soviet rule.

Families of those killed at Katyn were also on board the plane, the Polish government official at the airport said.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian government, yesterday, in Abuja commiserated with Poland over the plane crash which killed its president,  Lech Kaczynski and 131 others.

A statement issued by  Dr Martins Uhomoibhi, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: “ The government and people of Nigeria have received with shock and sadness the news of the tragic plane crash which occurred in Western Russia in the early hours of this morning.

“This has resulted in the death of His Excellency, Mr Lech Kaczynski, President of Poland and his dear wife, the First Lady of Poland, Mrs Kaczynski. 

“We have also learnt that other high dignitaries of the Polish government perished in the air crash, including members of Parliament.

“ Indeed, it is believed that Poland has never witnessed a tragedy of such proportion in recent history.

“We pay high tribute to the late President of Poland who, since his assumption of office in 2005, distinguished himself as a remarkable statesman, a moderniser of his country and a great contributor to international peace and security. ’’

The statement noted that only last year, Poland dispatched peacekeeping troops to Chad as part of the European Union’s  peacekeeping contingent to the neighbouring West African country.

The statement also said that under his leadership, Nigeria and Poland enjoyed the best of political and economic relations as partners for peace, security and development.

It expressed confidence that the relationship would continue even with the passage of the Polish leader.

“In the circumstance, the government and people of Nigeria join nations all over the world to pray for comfort and solace for the families of the late President of Poland and of all those who died in the tragic plane accident.

 “As a nation of “survivors,’’ we are confident that Poland will overcome the challenges posed by this tragedy of enormous scale with courage,’’ the statement added.