June 2, 2017 / 12:38 PM / Updated June 2, 2017 at 1:52 PM
Ex-Polish president's coffin contains remains of two other people
By Eric DuVall
The coffin containing the remains of Polish President Lech Kaczynski includes remains of two other victims. Kaczynski died in a plane crash on April 10, 2010. File photo by Alex Natin/UPI | License Photo
June 2 (UPI) -- After exhuming the body of former President Lech Kaczynski, the Polish government said forensic evidence shows his coffin also contains remains from two other individuals who died in a 2010 plane crash.
Officials in Poland exhumed the body last fall when it reopened an investigation into the crash to determine whether it was an accident, as the initial inquiry concluded, or was a deliberate assassination by Russia.
Ninety-six people died when the plane -- carrying Kaczynski, his wife, several members of the Polish parliament and top military leaders -- crashed at a rural Russian airport as it was landing in heavy fog. The delegation was traveling to Russia for a World War II commemoration. Despite the initial ruling that the crash was mostly due to pilot error, rumors persist the Russian air traffic controllers deliberately misled the pilots while guiding the plane to the ground.
Russia has denied the allegations and the Polish government has not produced any evidence to back allegations proving otherwise.
Polish officials have also blamed Russian forensic scientists for misidentifying passengers' remains, leading to the coffin mix-up, Radio Poland reports.
Lech Kaczynski