Polish plane crew knew their fate: prosecutor
The crew of a doomed Polish jet that crashed in Russia, killing president Lech Kaczynski, knew they were going to die after it hit trees while coming in to land, Poland's chief prosecutor said Thursday.
"On the basis of the data in the possession of prosecutors one could say that the crew was aware of the inevitability of the coming catastrophe, if only due to the plane shaking after the wings hit the trees -- which we are certain happened," Prosecutor General Andrzej Seremet told TOK FM radio.
The Russian-made Tupolev Tu-154 airliner crashed Saturday while trying to land in heavy fog near the western Russian city of Smolensk. All 96 on board, who were heading to a memorial for a World War II massacre, were killed.
Russian investigators were quoted Thursday as saying that the first analysis of black boxes from the crash showed pilot error was to blame, and that crew were unfamiliar with the plane's handling.
Krzysztof Parulski, Poland's chief military prosecutor called Thursday's revelations sheer speculation.
"Reports appearing about the apparent findings concerning the causes of the catastrophe must be regarded only as unauthorised speculation which is not related to our findings so far," Parulski told Polish media at the crash scene in Smolensk.
Russian air traffic controllers who dealt with the flight have said the crew refused three times to heed advice to divert to another airport and also suggested that language barriers had contributed to the crash.
Seremet, however, insisted the pilots made only two attempts to land before the crash.
Earlier this week Seremet said there was no evidence to back reports that the pilots were under pressure to land from Kaczynski or others on the plane, who included Poland's top four military commanders.
Russia's Interfax news agency said two of the black boxes found at the scene of the crash were being examined by Russian and Polish investigators at a defence ministry investigation centre in the Moscow region. A third is being examined in Poland.
Kaczynski's delegation was headed to a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, when thousands of Polish officers were slaughtered by the Soviet secret police in 1940. -
Sapa-AFP
"On the basis of the data in the possession of prosecutors one could say that the crew was aware of the inevitability of the coming catastrophe, if only due to the plane shaking after the wings hit the trees -- which we are certain happened," Prosecutor General Andrzej Seremet told TOK FM radio.
The Russian-made Tupolev Tu-154 airliner crashed Saturday while trying to land in heavy fog near the western Russian city of Smolensk. All 96 on board, who were heading to a memorial for a World War II massacre, were killed.
Russian investigators were quoted Thursday as saying that the first analysis of black boxes from the crash showed pilot error was to blame, and that crew were unfamiliar with the plane's handling.
Krzysztof Parulski, Poland's chief military prosecutor called Thursday's revelations sheer speculation.
"Reports appearing about the apparent findings concerning the causes of the catastrophe must be regarded only as unauthorised speculation which is not related to our findings so far," Parulski told Polish media at the crash scene in Smolensk.
Russian air traffic controllers who dealt with the flight have said the crew refused three times to heed advice to divert to another airport and also suggested that language barriers had contributed to the crash.
Seremet, however, insisted the pilots made only two attempts to land before the crash.
Earlier this week Seremet said there was no evidence to back reports that the pilots were under pressure to land from Kaczynski or others on the plane, who included Poland's top four military commanders.
Russia's Interfax news agency said two of the black boxes found at the scene of the crash were being examined by Russian and Polish investigators at a defence ministry investigation centre in the Moscow region. A third is being examined in Poland.
Kaczynski's delegation was headed to a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, when thousands of Polish officers were slaughtered by the Soviet secret police in 1940. -
Sapa-AFP
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