Polish President Lech Kaczynski, wife and 130 others die in Russian plane crash

Polish president among 132 dead in plane crash

MOSCOW — Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife died Saturday along with 130 others when their plane crashed while coming in for a landing in western Russia, officials said.

The governor of the Smolensk region, where the crash took place about 11 a.m. (0700 GMT), said no one survived.

“The Polish presidential plane did not make it to the runway while landing. Tentative findings indicate that it hit the treetops and fell apart,” Sergei Anufriev said on state news channel Rossiya-24. “Nobody has survived the disaster.”

The Polish foreign ministry confirmed that Kaczynski and his wife were aboard the plane.

The head of Russia’s top investigative body, Sergei Markin, said there were a total of 132 people on the plane, a Tu-154.