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Poland marks fifth anniversary of Smolensk tragic plane crash

Xinhua, April 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Poland marked on Friday the fifth anniversary of the plane crash in which 96 Polish people, including the then-Polish President Lech Kaczynski, were killed.

The Polish air force plane, carrying a delegation on their way to take part in events commemorating the Polish victims of the Katyn executions, crashed in the Russian city of Smolensk on April 10, 2010.

The then-Polish President Lech Kaczynski, Polish First Lady Maria Kaczynska and more than 90 high state officials died in the crash.

On Friday, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz, representatives of government, Warsaw city authorities and victims' family members participated in the commemoration at the Warsaw Powazki Military Cemetery.

The day before, Komorowski placed flowers at the grave of the former president and his wife in the Polish former capital town of Krakow where they were buried.

The commemoration began with a moment of silence and the performance of the national anthem. Afterwards, the names of Smolensk catastrophe victims were read aloud and gun salutes were fired as a military honor for the deceased.

The president also took part in a mass held in Katyn Chapel in the Field Cathedral of the Polish Army, after which he placed flowers under a commemorative plaque.

A Xinhua reporter also saw many Warsaw citizens coming to place flowers, light candles, or express their grief and memory in other ways.

Apart from the commemoration within the territory of Poland, a delegation composed of victims' families and officials and headed by Minister of Culture and National Heritage Malgorzata Omilanowska, attended memorial services held in Smolensk and Katyn.

After placing wreaths near the place where the plane crashed, they headed for Katyn. Endit