The body of Poland's late president arrived back home Sunday as his stunned nation mourned the loss of much of its elite in a jet crash in Russia that investigators said was not due to technical faults.
Draped in a red and white Polish flag, the coffin bearing Lech Kaczynski was carried onto a red carpet at Warsaw Airport, where it was met by his identical twin brother Jaroslaw, a former premier, and a presidential guard of honour.
Before his body was flown home, Poles observed a two-minute silence on the stroke of midday, which was marked by the wailing of sirens. Motorists in Warsaw pulled up in the streets to stand in solemn attention while churches were packed at the start of a week-long national mourning. Thousands of people observed the silence outside the presidential palace in central Warsaw in front of a sea of candles and flowers left by grief-stricken residents at a mass vigil overnight.
