President Kaczynski, Other Gov't Leaders Killed in Crash

All 96 aboard were killed when the Russian-built Tu-154 crashed short of the runway in heavy fog:

Russian and Polish officials said 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.

On board were the army chief of staff, national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers, the Polish foreign ministry said.

Russia's Emergency Ministry said there were 96 dead, 88 part of a Polish state delegation. Poland's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Piotr Paszkowski, said there were 89 people on the passenger list but one person had not shown up for the roughly 1½-hour flight from Warsaw's main airport.

"We still cannot fully understand the scope of this tragedy and what it means for us in the future. Nothing like this has ever happened in Poland," Paszkowski said. "We can assume with great certainty that all persons on board have been killed."

This is not the sort of blow the crash of Air Force One would have on the United States since most of the domestic duties of their government are handled by the Prime Minister. Commander-in-Chief duties will be taken over by the Speaker of the Parliament, who was running for the Presidency in elections this fall and projected to win.

May prayers go out to the families of the victims and to the Polish people.