Poland begins state funeral service for victims killed in plane crash

By Altaf Ahmed
In Warsaw, Thousands of Poles gathered yesterday at Pildsudsk square to observe two minute silence on the beginning of mass funeral of 96 victims killed in the plane crash in Russia’s Smolensk airport a week ago.
Among the killed were countries president Lech Kaczynski and his wife. The tragic loss of their president jolt the whole nation into tears.

During the funeral , the stage where the celebration took place was covered with pictures of victims of the tragedy. Once in front, were placed 96 white chairs empty in memory of the deceased.
The funeral ceremony began with the reading list, in alphabetical order of names of passengers on the flight, including several senior institutional and political figures, social, cultural and Poland’s sports.

In the first row were present Jaroslaw Kaczynski, twin brother of the dead president, and Martha, only daughter of Lech, in addition to the interim president of Poland, Bronislaw Komorowski, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

“We all feel pain , we all feel the same today, “said Komorowski, who recalled in his speech Jadwiga Kaczynska, mother of twins Kaczynski, who is in hospital and still not know the death of his son.

He was referring to the pain of Martha and Jaroslaw , “who lost his best friend.” . Most of world leaders are not able to arrive in Poland due to airline trouble from Volcano eruption . Among the leaders, Barak Obama is not planning to attend the meeting citing hazardous air conditions.