NON-CREW members were in the cockpit of the plane of Polish president Lech Kaczynski before its fatal crash in Russia, officials said yesterday, raising fresh questions about the tragedy’s cause.

Russian air safety officials said today that the crash of a commercial airline in May that killed 113 people was due to pilot error.

Russian searchers have recovered the cockpit voice recorder from an Armenian passenger jet that crashed in the Black Sea nearly three weeks ago, killing 113 passengers and crew.