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Saturday, April 10, 2010
Polish President Dies,
Coal Miners’ Bodies Found
Left, the plane that Polish President Lech Kaczynski was on. His image can be found bottom right. Top right, "a woman is embraced by a Red Cross worker as she reacts to the news that rescue workers located the four missing bodies deep in a West Virginia coal mine," reported The Associated Press. Photos from various media reports
Presidents of popular countries and leaders of great nations always seem so untouchable. They seem as if they are above the type of suffering that happens to other people, like those of West Virginia. But when tragedy hits, it’s a grim reminder that no one is impervious to fate’s hand.
Sadly, Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria Kaczynska, were killed when their plane crashed while landing in Russia to celebrate “the 70th anniversary of the massacre of Polish prisoners of war in the village of Katyn,” reported CNN.
Not only was the 60-year-old president and his wife killed, but so where the Polish delegation who were traveling with them.
While trying to land in heavy fog, the plane “clipped” the trees during its approach and at the moment that is being attributed for the crash that killed 132 onboard, according to CNN.
It’s always a shock when accidents such as this. Even here in America, it was announced today that the bodies of the four trapped miners in West Virginia have been discovered, making the death toll of the accident 29, the worst coal mining disaster in America since 1970, reported The Associated Press.
And what is the difference between the Polish president and his party and the coal miners, where their lives ended half way around the world from each other? Nothing.
These are people trying to make their way in life. The coal miners knew their job was dangerous and the Polish president and his fellow travelers knew of the dangers of being on the international political stage. And yet, while some will say that the coal miners’ job was far deadlier than the Polish president’s, it does not offer any real comfort in this time of grieving.
Let’s keep these fine people and their loved ones in our prayers and in our thoughts.
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