Foreign minister Maxime Verhagen has signed the book of condolence for the late Polish President Lech Kaczyński at the Polish embassy in The Hague, and expressed his deepest sympathy in a letter to Polish foreign minister Radosław Sikorski.

Mr Verhagen wrote to his Polish counterpart that he was deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic plane accident in which the Polish president, the first lady and many other prominent Poles lost their lives. As a result of the catastrophe Poland has lost a distinguished statesman, the minister wrote: ‘I wish to convey my deepest sympathy to the people of Poland. My thoughts are with the relatives of those who lost their lives.’

The plane that was carrying President Kaczyński and 96 other passengers crashed as it was landing at Smolensk. The president and a delegation were travelling to Katyn for a ceremony commemorating Polish officers and intellectuals who were killed there by the Soviet secret service during the Second World War.



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