One in two Poles thinks Smolensk crash unsolved
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
13.04.2015 09:47
Five years after the Smolensk air tragedy, a survey has indicated that over 50 percent of Poles consider the causes of the crash to be unclear.
Lanterns placed outside the Presidential Palace in Warsaw marking the 5th anniversary of the Smoleńsk air crash. Photo: PAP/Marcin Obara
According to the survey by IBRiS for the Rzeczpospolita daily, 33 percent of respondents believe that the causes of the disaster will never be fully explained (up 3 percent since last year), while 23 percent believe that although not clarified as of yet, the reasons for the crash will ultimately be revealed (up 5 percent).
Some 16 percent of respondents believe that the crash was the result of an outright attack (up 2 percent on 2014).
However, 47 percent of respondents believe the crash to have been caused by an accident, with no conspiracies involved.
Some 96 Poles died when the plane carrying President Lech Kaczyński's delegation to Smolensk, Russia, crashed in thick fog on 10 April 2010.
The official Russian report, released in December 2010, placed the blame for the crash on the Polish side, while Warsaw's report, published in July 2011, acknowledged a catalogue of faults on the Polish side, coupled with errors made in the Smolensk control tower.
In March 2015, military prosecutors in Poland filed criminal charges against two Russian air traffic controllers. (nh)