A plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski has crashed near a Russian airport, officials say.
Russian media reported that 87 people were killed in the crash near Smolensk, and a regional governor was quoted as saying there were no survivors. Polish officials said Mr Kaczynski was on board along with his wife Maria and several senior government figures.
They were in Russia to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, when Soviets killed thousands of Poles. The Russian emergencies ministry told Itar-Tass news agency the plane crashed at 1056 Moscow time (0656 GMT).
Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova said it had been flying from Moscow to Smolensk, but had no details on the identities of those killed. Smolensk regional governor Sergei Antufiev told Russian TV that no-one had survived.
“It clipped the tops of the trees, crashed down and broke into pieces. There were no survivors,” he was quoted as saying. The Polish Foreign Ministry said the president and his wife were aboard the plane.
Central bank governor Slawomir Skrzypek was also said to have been on board.
Source: BBC
Polish president feared dead in Russian plane crash
 Polish president Lech Kaczynski was feared dead after his plane crashed on approach to a Russian airport on Saturday, a Polish government official at the airport told Reuters.
Russian news agencies reported at least 87 people died in the crash near Smolensk airport in western Russia, citing the Russian Emergencies Ministry. They reported 132 people were aboard the Tupolev Tu-154.
Polish state news agency PAP said there were no survivors.
The Polish government official in Smolensk said there was no information about survivors. The crash occurred about 1.5 km (a mile) from Smolensk airport in foggy conditions.
The official said the head of the Polish army and the head of the presidential administration were also on board the plane, along with the president’s wife and families of other senior officials.
“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.
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