A Polish military plane carrying 20 passengers and crew crashed in northwestern Poland yesterday.
The plane, with 16 members of the Polish armed forces and four crew members, was approaching an air base at Miroslawiec shortly after 7pm yesterday when it went down in a forested area. All aboard were killed.
"Soldiers, husbands, and fathers have died, and that is the most tragic result of this catastrophe," said Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He called it a "huge loss for the Polish air force".
The passengers, who were returning from a flight safety conference, included an air brigade commander and the commander of the Miroslawiec base.
The transport plane was about two miles from the airstrip when it clipped trees on its approach, crashed into a wooded area and burst into flames.
Mr Tusk said emergency crews were still looking for the black box to clarify what went wrong.