Summary
12 April 2010
The Polish government is expected to announce details of President Kaczynski's funeral arrangements. The president, with his wife and other government staff members, died in a plane crash on Saturday.
Reporter:
Duncan Kennedy
Candles lit for President Kaczynski
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Summary:
The pavement in front of President Kaczynski's palace in central Warsaw has nearly disappeared from sight, covered now with thousands of small glass pots containing candles laid as a mark of respect. The president's body has been brought back from Russia and is due to lie in state later today. More details of the funeral arrangements are expected over the next day or so.
Poland's health minister has said that only 14 of the 96 victims of Saturday's air crash in Russia are identifiable. Crash investigators say data from the flight recorders appear to show there was no technical fault on the plane, suggesting pilot error may have been a factor in the crash.
Among those to have died was the president's wife, Maria. There's no precedent for a dual funeral involving a head of state and his first lady, so it's unclear if they will have a joint or separate ceremony.
Poland's top military leadership was among those who lost their lives, though their first deputies have taken over any immediate duties meaning that the country's armed forces are operating normally. Many other national institutions cannot yet say that, after a disaster that removed a vast cross-section of the country's public servants.
Duncan Kennedy, 大象传媒 News, Warsaw
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Vocabulary
- pavement
path with a hard surface on the side of a road, that people walk on
- laid as a mark of respect
placed as a way of showing that people looked up to or admired someone who has died (here, President Kaczynski)
- is due to lie in state
is expected to be laid out formally so that the public can look at his body or coffin and pay tribute to him
- identifiable
able to say who they are or know who they are
- data
information, especially facts and statistics or electronic information from a computer
- pilot error may have been a factor
mistake the pilot made might have been a reason
- precedent
situation which has happened before and which can be used as a reason why a similar situation should happen again
- a dual funeral
a ceremony that is held for two people who have died
- a joint or separate ceremony
one funeral for two people or one funeral for each of them
- a vast cross-section
a large number of people from a wide variety of jobs or posts
