20 dead in Plane Catastrophe

[hollister]

A CASA plane carrying high ranking air force officers crashed in Mirosławcu - killing all on board.

The story in polish:
wiadomosci.onet.pl/1679057,11,item.html

the story in English
tinyurl.com/2zplvz


I updated the headline in line with the morning news ....

[Jaga]

Holly,

thanks for the update.

Here is also about it:

WARSAW -- All 19 people on board a Polish EADS Casa military transport aircraft died when it crashed as it was coming in to land at Miroslawiec airport in northwest Poland, the Polish airforce said Thursday.

Airport spokesman Bogdan Ziolowski told reporters: "Nobody survived the accident," which happened late Wednesday.

Airforce spokesman Colonel Wieslaw Grzegorzewski told Agence France-Presse that 19 military personnel were on board the plane, including 15 passengers and four crew.

The Spanish-built Casa transporter was approaching the West Pomeranian town of Miroslawiec -- site of a Polish air force base -- when it went down in woods close to the runway, igniting a fire.

By a cruel irony, the plane had been returning from Warsaw with officers on board who had been taking part in an annual conference on air security organized by the Polish airforce.

Several passengers had already left the plane at earlier stops at Krzesiny in the west, and Powidz in the north, said military sources.

Grzegorzewski did not rule out the possibility that some high-ranking airforce officers had been among those killed.

newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20080124-114454/19-dead-in-Poland-air-crash--airforce

[hollister]

This morning's update from the AP wires ...

Polish Plane Crash Kills 20

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Polish military plane carrying 20 passengers and crew crashed in northwestern Poland, killing all aboard including a brigadier general, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Thursday.
The plane was approaching an air base at Miroslawiec shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday when it went down in a forest in northwestern Poland. Officials initially said seven were confirmed dead.
"Soldiers, husbands, and fathers have died, and that is the most tragic result of this catastrophe," said Tusk. He called it a "huge loss for the Polish air force."

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A military plane carrying 18 officers and crew crashed Wednesday in northwestern Poland, killing at least seven people, officials said. The officers had been attending a flight safety conference in Warsaw.
The plane was approaching an air base at Miroslawiec shortly after 7 p.m. when it crashed, Maj. Bogdan Ziolkowski, a spokesman for the base told The Associated Press.
Fourteen passengers and four crew were on board, said air force spokesman Col. Wieslaw Grzegorzewski.
Emergency services spokeswoman Monika Bak said seven people died. Grzegorzewski said some people were killed, but did not provide a number.
The aircraft, a Spanish-built CASA C-295M military transport plane, was about 1 mile from the airstrip when it clipped trees on its approach, crashed into a wooded area and burst into flames, Ziolkowski said.
"We don't know what the cause of the crash was right now," Ziolkowski said.
He added that the passengers were officers attending an annual one-day conference in Warsaw on air safety.
The plane had more people on board when it took off from Warsaw, but had already landed at three other military airports. It had two more planned stops in Swidwin and Krakow.
Polish media were describing the accident as one of the worst military disasters in more than three decades. President Lech Kaczynski was cutting short a visit to Croatia to return to Poland on Thursday, a spokesman said.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Defense Minister Bogdan Klich were rushing to the crash site late Wednesday.
Tusk's spokeswoman, Agnieszka Liszka, called the accident a "shocking tragedy" and said the premier extended his sympathy to the families.
A Polish military expert, Grzegorz Holdanowicz, said it was the first air disaster involving a CASA C-295M, a plane he called one of the safest in the Polish air force. The Polish military also uses the plane type in Iraq and in Afghanistan, where it supports the U.S.-led operations.
The pilots of Wednesday's flight were from a transport squadron based in Balice, near Krakow, that had flown in Iraq and Afghanistan, the squadron spokesman, Cpt. Piotr Jaszczuk said.
Associated Press writer Monika Scislowska contributed to this report.

[Mary]

AP is now reporting "at least 7 killed" (Better the numbers go down rather than up)

[justjohn]

No survivors in Polish air crash

A Polish military aircraft has crashed in the country's northwest, killing everyone on board.

At least 19 people were on the Casa C-295M military transport plane when it came down 2km (1.2 miles) from an air base in the town of Miroslawiec.

It was carrying officials who had attended an air safety conference.

"Soldiers, husbands, and fathers have died, and that is the most tragic result of this catastrophe," said the Polish PM Donald Tusk.

Some reports said there were 20 people on board the plane, which had taken off from the Polish capital, Warsaw.

Mr Tusk was speaking after rushing to the site of the Polish air force's worst accident for 35 years.

Fruitless search

The BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw says it appears the aircraft suddenly fell from a height of 200m (650ft), crashed into forest and burst into flames at around 1900 (1800GMT) on Wednesday.

Emergency service officials had been hampered in their attempts to search for survivors by the fire and restricted access in the forest.

Bad weather is not thought by officials to have been a factor in the tragedy.

Miroslawiec is home to the Polish Air Force's 12th air base.

The C-295M is a medium-range, twin-turboprop aircraft developed by the Madrid-based manufacturer, Construcciones Aeronauticas SA (Casa).
Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7205810.stm

Published: 2008/01/24 04:36:27 GMT