Country united in grief for lost president

THE body of President Lech Kaczynski was returned to Poland yesterday where it was greeted by grieving dignitaries and thousands of Poles lining the route from Warsaw’s airport to the presidential palace.

The plane carrying Mr Kaczynski’s body arrived from the airport in Smolensk, Russia, where he and 95 others had been heading on Saturday to honour 22,000 Polish officers slain by the Soviet secret police in 1940.

Kaczynski’s twin brother, Jaroslaw, knelt on the ground and pressed his head against the flag-draped coffin before rising and crossing himself.