Polish Tragedy, R.I.P elite

[MMatersk]

God Bless everyone who was on board the Presidential Plane . please dont flame. i dont know if this is the right place to post.

[Rugger_can]

It is indeed a tragedy.

And I can only imagine the shock that the Polish people must be dealing with, I wish them good luck in dealing with such a unexpected and saddening turn of events.

And no, making fun of this would not be appropriate. And thus I suggest if you have nothing nice to say then holding one's tongue would be appropriate.

[Drake]

For those, whom like me, slept in this morning and aren't up to speed:

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Canada’s Governor General were both shocked and saddened by the death of Poland’s president, his wife and several of the country’s highest ranking officials in a plane crash Saturday morning.

Lech Kaczynski died Saturday along with his wife and upwards of 100 others, including high-ranking military and civilian leaders when his presidential plane, a 26-year-old former Soviet Tupolev TU-154 crashed in western Russia while trying to land at a military base near Smolensk in thick fog.

Reports indicate the pilot tried landing three times before crashing on a fourth attempt.

“It is with shock and profound sadness that I learned this morning of the terrible tragedy that has today befallen the people of Poland. Canadians and Poles together are mourning the death of Lech Kaczynski, President of Poland, his wife Maria Kaczynski ... and many senior Polish political and military leaders,” Harper said in a statement released Saturday.

“President Lech Kaczynski was a man who stood proudly and defiantly for democracy and human rights through even the most difficult times. His sudden passing is a great loss for his country and for his many friends here in Canada, particularly within the Polish-Canadian community.”

According to the 2001 census, there are about one million Canadians who claim Polish ancestry, with the largest populations based in Toronto and its suburbs and Edmonton.

There were no survivors of the crash, according to Russian authorities, who are heading up the investigation of the crash.

Canada’s Governor General Michaelle Jean, Kaczynski’s counterpart in Canada, said she and her husband were “shocked” at the “tragic” news.

Jean called Kaczynski a “champion of freedom.

“On behalf of all Canadians, we wish to extend our sincere condolences to the families and friends of the deceased. Our thoughts are with Canada's Polish community, which is in shock and which we know had great affection and admiration for President Kaczynski,” Jean said in a statement.

Kaczynski, whose role as President was largely a symbolic one, was en route to ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the 1940 Katyn Massacre where Soviet secret police killed 22,000 Polish officers during the Second World War.

Also killed in Saturday’s crash was the Polish army’s chief of staff, the president of the national bank, the deputy foreign minister, and the head of the national security office, among others. Estimates of the total number of victims ranges from 88 to more than 120.

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has called for two minutes of silence nationwide Sunday at noon and a week of mourning, was scheduled to travel to Canada on April 14 and 15. It’s unknown whether the trip will go ahead. Tusk and Harper were planning to discuss the, "growing Canada-Poland relationship" with a particular focus on trade, according to Harper's office.

Kaczynski was elected president in 2005 and was the twin brother of the leader of Poland’s Official Opposition in Parliament.

A presidential election was scheduled for October of this year, but reports suggest a new earlier date must be announced in the next two weeks because of Kaczynski's death, according to the constitution.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canad...37151-qmi.html

[CDN_Stalker]

Wow, that's pretty major and tragic.

[LilBishop]

Poland never had much luck in the last century, it's sad to see that tragedy still strikes their nation today.

I hope the country, and its people, will recover from these losses very soon. It won't a simple task to fill the void that these deaths left.

[Ronan]

Originally Posted by CDN_Stalker

Wow, that's pretty major and tragic.

That, holy crap!

[R.I.T.Z]

Polska na zawsie
It's a tragedy to hear whats happened, and where the plane went down.



YouTube- Polish National Anthem + English Subtitles

[TechSeller]

Very sad. The flight safety record for that type of plane is atrocious. When I was there I refused to get on any domestic brands.

Hopefully some good can come of this tragedy if they wake the hell up and raise their standards.

[R.I.T.Z]

Originally Posted by TechSeller

Very sad. The flight safety record for that type of plane is atrocious. When I was there I refused to get on any domestic brands.

Hopefully some good can come of this tragedy if they wake the hell up and raise their standards.

a little uncalled for
they passed away leaving their only daughter by herself no parents.

[SHaKaL]

He was talking about the standards of the commercial aviation industries in Russia.

Condolences to the Polish peoples

[DuffMan]

"death of Poland’s president, his wife and several of the country’s highest ranking officials in a plane crash"

They were all on the same plane? Fail.

[R.I.T.Z]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

"death of Poland’s president, his wife and several of the country’s highest ranking officials in a plane crash"

They were all on the same plane? Fail.

you truly are an ass

[Rugger_can]

Originally Posted by TechSeller

Very sad. The flight safety record for that type of plane is atrocious. When I was there I refused to get on any domestic brands.

Hopefully some good can come of this tragedy if they wake the hell up and raise their standards.

The plane used was a modernized TU-154M a variant produced in Poland and used by the Special Transport Aviation Regiment.

Now is not the time to criticize.

[Disco_Dante]

Originally Posted by R.I.T.Z

you truly are an ass

That doesn't change the fact that he's right.

[Conker]

Well, yes if it caused all these deaths. I wouldn't trust a russian plane either.

RIP to all these people, and condolences to their families.