Polish to release cockpit voice recorder details
Source: Agencies |
April 16, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
POLAND promised yesterday to release details of the cockpit voice recorders from the plane crash that killed its president and dozens of other top officials in Russia to end speculation President Lech Kaczynski was to blame.
Kaczynski, Polish military leaders and senior opposition figures were traveling to mark the 70th anniversary of the massacre of some 22,000 Polish officers by Soviet secret police in Katyn forest last Saturday when their plane went down.
Russian air traffic controllers in Smolensk say they urged the pilot to divert to another airport because of thick fog, but say he ignored the advice and made four attempts to land before hitting tree-tops and crashing.
Some Polish media have speculated that Kaczynski, in his determination not to miss the Katyn event, may have ordered the pilot to try to land the plane.
"The conversations, their content, will be vital in terms of proving or disproving the various hypotheses. I will not oppose revealing the contents unless they are of an intimate nature," said Andrzej Seremet, Poland's chief prosecutor.
Interfax news agency quoted what it said was a source close to the investigation commission saying the pilots did not seem to have been under pressure from Kaczynski.
Speculation that Kaczynski may have ordered the pilot to land in Smolensk is based in large part on an incident in 2008, when the president flew to Georgia to show his solidarity with that country during its brief war with Russia.
Kaczynski grew irate when his pilot refused to land in the capital Tbilisi because of safety concerns, later accusing him publicly of cowardice for diverting to Azerbaijan and even pushing for him to be fired.
Kaczynski, Polish military leaders and senior opposition figures were traveling to mark the 70th anniversary of the massacre of some 22,000 Polish officers by Soviet secret police in Katyn forest last Saturday when their plane went down.
Russian air traffic controllers in Smolensk say they urged the pilot to divert to another airport because of thick fog, but say he ignored the advice and made four attempts to land before hitting tree-tops and crashing.
Some Polish media have speculated that Kaczynski, in his determination not to miss the Katyn event, may have ordered the pilot to try to land the plane.
"The conversations, their content, will be vital in terms of proving or disproving the various hypotheses. I will not oppose revealing the contents unless they are of an intimate nature," said Andrzej Seremet, Poland's chief prosecutor.
Interfax news agency quoted what it said was a source close to the investigation commission saying the pilots did not seem to have been under pressure from Kaczynski.
Speculation that Kaczynski may have ordered the pilot to land in Smolensk is based in large part on an incident in 2008, when the president flew to Georgia to show his solidarity with that country during its brief war with Russia.
Kaczynski grew irate when his pilot refused to land in the capital Tbilisi because of safety concerns, later accusing him publicly of cowardice for diverting to Azerbaijan and even pushing for him to be fired.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
