Pilot error blamed as witnesses report three or four attempts to land in thick fog
Army chief and national bank supremo also killed in disaster
PM calls emergency Cabinet meeting as shocked crowds gather
Polish president Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria have been killed after their plane crashed on approach to Smolensk airport in western Russia.
There were conflicting reports today of the number of people on board the flight. Russian news agencies reported at least 88 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.
But Polish officials said 88 people were on board when the plane crashed. Sky News reported 96 dead.
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Pilot error has been blamed for the tragedy after it emerged he turned down the opportunity to land at an alternative runway in thick fog. Witnesses said the pilot made three or four attempts to land before crashing into woodland nearby.
According to reports, the pilot accelerated as the plane came in to land and at that point lost contact with air traffic control.
As news of the tragedy spread, Prime Minister Donald Tusk called an extraordinary meeting of his Cabinet and the national flag was lowered to half-staff at the presidential palace, where people gathered to lay flowers and light candles.
Black ribbons appeared in some windows in the Polish capital.
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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been put in charge of a commission investigating the crash, the Kremlin said.
The governor of the Smolensk region, where the crash took place about 11am (0700 GMT), said no one survived.
'The Polish presidential plane did not make it to the runway while landing. Tentative findings indicate that it hit the treetops and fell apart," Sergei Anufriev said on state news channel Rossiya-24. "Nobody has survived the disaster.'
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had ordered a two-minute silence at noon (1000GMT) Sunday.
'The contemporary world has not seen such a tragedy,' he said, offering his "deepest sympathy" to the president's family.
Tusk noted that condolences were pouring in from around the world and noted that "the first came from (Russian) Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev."
Also among the victims was Anna Walentynowicz, whose firing in August 1980 from the Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk sparked a workers' strike that spurred the eventual creation of the Solidarity freedom movement
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The crash occurred about 1.5 km from Smolensk airport in foggy conditions.
State news channel Rossiya-24 showed footage from the crash site, with pieces of the plane scattered widely amid leafless trees and small fires burning in woods shrouded with fog. A tail fin with the Polish red and white colours stuck up from the debris.
Poland's president is commander-in-chief of its armed forces but the position's domestic duties are chiefly symbolic.
The president and his wife were on their way to attend a World War Two memorial service. Kaczynski's wife, Maria, was an economist. They had a daughter, Marta, and two granddaughters.
A Polish government 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 Army chief of staff, Gen. Franciszek Gagor, National Bank President Slawomir Skrzypek and Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer
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