The chairman of the Katyn Foundation has called on the Polish government to appeal for an international investigation to look into the causes of the Smolensk air crash disaster.

Professor Jacek Trznadel from the Katyn Foundation has written to PM Donald Tusk saying: "Because of the exceptional importance of the plane crash near Smolensk on 10 April, which killed the President of the Republic, Lech Kaczynski, and the heads of key institutions of the Polish State, and because it did not occur Poland, I turn to you, Mr. Prime Minister, for the establishment of an independent, international commission to examine the causes of the disaster.”

According Trznadel, the commission's role, with the participation of leading world experts, would be essential to ease public unease as to the circumstances of the crash, which killed 96 people in Smolensk on April 10.

President Kaczynski was on his way to a Katyn memorial service when the plane crashed. Investigations are continuing into the causes of the tragedy. (pg)