Thousands Attend Kaczynski Funeral in Poland's Krakow

The late Polish President's brother Jaroslaw Kaczynski (4L) and daughter Marta (L) are walking in the first row of the funeral procession with coffins containing the bodies of the First Couple, Lech and Maria Kaczynski. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Thousands of people attended the state funeral of late Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria in the city of Krakow on Sunday.

Althought the funeral ceremonies in Krakow are for family, friends and international guests, thousands of local people also paid their respects to the late President and his wife.

A funeral mass was served in the St Mary's Basilica, and the coffins of the first couple have been taken to be buried in the historic Wawel Cathedral.

Lech and Maria Kaczynski perished together with 94 other people as the Polish government plane crashed near Smolensk in Russia en route to the remembrance ceremonies for the 70th year since the Katyn Massacre.

Even though top world leaders had to cancel their attendance of the funeral because of the disrupted air traffic over Europe as a result of the Iceland volcanic ash cloud, a number of foreign leaders managed to attended.

These include Russian President Dmitry Medvedev; Czech President Vaclav Klaus; Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic; Slovenian President Danilo Turk; Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych; Latvian President Valdis Zatlers; Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Andrus Ansip; Romanian President Traian Basescu; Hungarian President Lazslo Solyom and PM Gordon Bajnai.

The actual burial at the castle in Krakow near the grave of Polish statesman Josef Pilsudski will be signalled by a 21-gun salute.

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