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Exhumations of Smolensk airplane catastrophe victims commence in Poland

Xinhua, November 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

The exhumations of 83 victims of 2010 Smolensk airplane catastrophe began in Poland on Monday, starting from the remains of late Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his spouse.

Polish Public Prosecutor's Office informed that by the end of 2016, 10 exhumations are to be done. The whole process is to end up in autumn-winter 2017.

"I confirm ... that we are beginning to carry out exhumations next week and we are going to start in Wawel Castle (Krakow, southern Poland) by the exhumation of Mr. President's remains," Marek Pasionek, Deputy Attorney General said last week.

The exhumations will concern the remains of 83 victims, whose bodies' autopsy was not carried out in Poland and which were not cremated. The experts will have four months to make an opinion, while the remains will be buried again immediately after the examinations are over.

"The bodies of the victims are practically the only evidence we can have access to through exhumations," Pasionek said, justifying their necessity.

Polish Prosecutors suspect, some of the remains were misplaced into wrong coffins. The autopsy will be made by a team of 14 experts. Histopathological, toxicological and physicochemical examinations are to be made. The main goal is to confirm the cause of death.

Nine exhumations have already been made between June 2011 and November 2012. They proved misplacing of six bodies in wrong graves and numerous errors in medical documentation provided by the Russian Federation.

Many families, however, oppose to the process. In October 2016, families of 17 victims called for restraining the exhumations in a letter sent to President Andrzej Duda.

The catastrophe of Tu-154M plane on April 10, 2010, took place in Smolensk, Russia and took life of 96 victims, including Kaczynski, the First Lady Maria Kaczynska, as well as numerous Polish top officials.

The exact cause and course of the catastrophe are still to be determined. Endit