Poland fell silent yesterday after its president and much of the ruling elite were wiped out in a plane crash in Russia, as investigators probed why the pilots ignored warnings not to land in thick fog.
The country observed a two-minute silence on the stroke of midday, which was marked by the wailing of sirens, as it somberly awaited the return of President Lech Kaczynski’s body.
Motorists in Warsaw pulled up in the streets to stand in solemn attention while the country’s churches were packed at the start of a week-long mourning period.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Thousands of people observed the silence outside the presidential palace in central Warsaw in front of a sea of candles and flowers left by grief-stricken residents at a mass vigil overnight.
In Russia, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was among those who attended a ceremony at the site of the crash near the western city of Smolesnk before he watched the body of Kaczynski being placed on a Warsaw-bound plane.
The bodies of the president and his wife were to arrive in Poland yesterday afternoon, the defense ministry said.
All 96 people aboard the Tupolev Tu-154 jet were killed when it crashed into a forest and caught fire on Saturday, including a host of top state and military officials.
A Russian transport ministry spokesman said the plane’s voice and data recorders were at a special laboratory.
Lieutenant General Alexander Alyoshin, deputy head of the Russian air force, said the Polish pilots ignored warnings from air traffic controllers that they were too low.
Russia ordered a day of national mourning for today.
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