Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the plane crash occurred as it was about to land last evening. The 20 victims included a brigadier general and four crew members, he said.“Soldiers, husbands and fathers have died, and that is the most tragic result of this catastrophe,” said Tusk, who had rushed to the site of the accident.
He called it a “huge loss for the Polish air force.”

The air force plane carrying 16 passengers and four crew members was approaching an air force airstrip at Miroslawiec shortly after 7 pm (2330 IST) when it crashed in a forested area.

The aircraft, a Spanish-built CASA C-295M military transport plane, was about three kilometres from the airstrip when it clipped trees on its approach, crashed into a wooded area and burst into flames, officials said.
The plane originally had more people on board when it took off from Warsaw but had already landed at three other military airports — in Powidz, Poznan and Krzesiny — to return soldiers to their home bases. It had two more planned stops to make, in Swidwin and Krakow.

Polish media described the accident as one of the worst military disasters in more than three decades and President Lech Kaczynski, on a visit to Croatia, was cutting short his trip to return to Poland on Thursday, a spokesman  said.