Today marks 13 years since the Smolensk disaster. On this day in 2010, 96 people lost their lives in the crash of the Tu-154M aircraft in Smolensk.
Exactly 13 years ago, Poland’s President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria and other 94 personalities died in a Smolensk air disaster. The Polish delegation was on its way to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre.
As this year 10 April falls on the second day of Easter, the commemoration of the anniversary of the Smolensk disaster will take place on Sunday, 16 April.
The Secretary General of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, Krzysztof Sobolewski, informed the Polish Press Agency (PAP) and “Super Express” about this.
The Smolensk Report
A year ago, on April 11, 2022, the head of the Subcommittee for Reinvestigation of the Aircraft Accident, Antoni Macierewicz, presented the Smolensk Report.
The Polish Air Force Tu-154M aircraft carrying President Lech Kaczyński and 95 other passengers and crew members crashed on 10 April 2010 near Smolensk in Russia. In the months prior to the crash, the crew had been preparing for the President’s visit and the aircraft had made several successful flights. The technical characteristics of the aircraft, as well as witness reports and other evidence, were analyzed by a subcommittee, which conducted tests and simulations in order to determine the cause of the crash.
Therefore, the first part refers to a number of topics such as information about the crew, the passengers, the technical characteristics of the aircraft, the progress of preparations for that visit, the flight history, the crash and witness reports. The second part, on the other hand, describes the subcommittee’s analyses, tests and simulations.
Thousands of pages of evidence were also prepared in connection with the report. They usually contain technical questions, but also legal and film documentaries.
Read the whole report here.