Polish president’s body reaches Warsaw

WARSAW - The body of Polish President Lech Kaczynski reached Warsaw Sunday evening after a military farewell given by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Smolensk. Kaczynski died in a crash Saturday when his plane tried to land in foggy weather.

The coffin was received by Acting President Bronislaw Komorowski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk. A military guard of honour was given at the airport.

Earlier, Kaczynski’s twin brother Jaroslaw, leader of the main opposition party PIS, visited the crash site in western Russia to identify the remains of his brother and sister-in-law. He had chartered an aircraft to reach there.

According to the preliminary reports, the pilots of Kaczynski’s plane repeatedly ignored instructions from the air controllers not to land in Smolensk. The pilots were told to divert either to Minsk or Moscow.

It is a mystery as to who forced the pilots to make the fatal attempt to land at Smolensk airport.

Experts are of the opinion that probably the pilots could not overrule the president’s instructions to do so as Kaczynski was determined to attend the Katyn Massacre ceremony on that day where hundreds of Polish people had assembled to mark the ceremony.