Polish President Lech Kaczynski and some of the country's highest military and civilian leaders died Saturday along with dozens of others when the presidential plane crashed as it came in for a landing in thick fog in western Russia. Russian and Polish officials offered conflicting death tolls but agreed there were no survivors on the Soviet-era Tupolev, which was taking the president, his wife and staff, the Associated Press reported. The Army chief of staff, Gen. Franciszek Gagor, National Bank President Slawomir Skrzypek and Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer were also on board, the Polish foreign ministry said. The head of Russia's top investigative body, Sergei Markin, said there 132 people on the Tu-154. Poland's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Piotr Paszkowski, said there were 89 people on the passenger list but one person had not shown up. «We still cannot fully understand the scope of this tragedy and what it means for us in the future. Nothing like this has ever happened in Poland,» Paszkowski said. «We can assume with great certainty that all persons on board have been killed.» The governor of the Smolensk region, where the crash took place about 11 a.m. (0700 GMT), also said no one survived.
