Presidents of Philippines, Panama and Now Poland Die in Planes

Polish President Lech Kaczynsky was killed early this morning along with an estimated 96 other passengers, mostly top Polish officials, when his plane crashed at the Smolensk airport in western Russia.  The Polish delegation was on its way to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre of thousands of Poles by Soviet forces during World War II.

Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay was the third President of the Third Republic of the Philippines from December 30, 1953 until his death in a plane crash in 1957.  He was heading back from a speaking engagement in Cebu City to Manila at about 1 a.m on March 17.  Of the 26 passengers, only newspaperman Nestor Mata survived.

Omar Torrijos, the nationalistic leader of Panama from 1968 to 1981, died when his DeHavilland Twin Otter crashed near Penonome on August 1.

In 1994, President Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Cyprian Ntayamira of Burundi’s plane was shot down returning from a meeting of east and central African leaders in Tanzania at which they discussed ways to end the ethnic violence in Burundi and Rwanda.