Friday, July 29, 2011

Poland's defence minister resigns over Smolensk plane crash

Poland's defence minister resigned on Friday after a report into an air crash in Russia last year that killed the country's president blamed inadequate pilot training.

The report also said that Russia was partly to blame for the crash near Smolensk, which left dozens of the nation's military and political elite.

Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, said he had accepted Bogdan Klich's resignation after they had both read the 328-page report into the crash.

The Polish air force Tupolev Tu-154 carrying President Lech Kaczynski struck a tree as it tried to land at a fogbound Smolensk airport in western Russia on April 10, 2010.

It then rolled over and slammed into the ground, killing the president, his wife and 94 others in a crash that the country is still reeling from.

In the detailed report drawn up 15 months after the accident investigators a gave damning indictment of crew training and flight preparation, and said that Poland should shoulder most of the blame for the disaster.