Taoiseach Brian Cowen yesterday extended his deepest sympathy on behalf of the Irish government to the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on the tragic death of President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and his large accompanying delegation on a visit to Russia.

"On my own behalf, and on behalf of my Government, I wish to extend our sincere condolences to the Polish Government and the people of Poland for their huge loss arising from this terrible tragedy," said Cowen. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this very sad and difficult time".

Kaczynski and his wife died along with 130 others when their plane crashed while coming in to land in western Russia, officials said.

The governor of the Smolensk region, where the crash took place about 11am local time (6am Irish time), said no one survived.

"The Polish presidential plane did not make it to the runway while landing. Tentative findings indicate that it hit the treetops and fell apart," Sergei Anufriev said on state news channel Rossiya-24. "Nobody has survived the disaster."

World leaders including Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown offered their condolences to Poland.

Kaczynski, who had fewer powers than the prime minister but had a significant say in foreign policy, was a controversial figure in Polish politics.

He had advocated a right-wing Catholic agenda, opposed rapid free-market reforms and favoured retaining social welfare programmes.

The head of Russia's top investigative body, Sergei Markin, said there were a total of 132 people on the plane, a Tupolev Tu-154.

APRossiya-24 showed footage from the crash site, with pieces of the plane scattered widely amid leafless trees and small fires burning in the woods.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, but reports said there was considerable fog in the area.

Russian media carried claims that the plane's crew were at fault for the crash.

"The pilot was advised to land in Minsk, but decided to land in Smolensk," said Andrei Yevseyenkov, a Smolensk regional government spokesman.

Kaczynski was flying to Russia for events marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police in Katyn and elsewhere during World War II.

The presidential plane was a Soviet-built Tupolev TU154M, at least 20 years old. The Army chief of staff, General Franciszek Gagor, National Bank President Slawomir Skrzypek and Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer were on the passenger list.

In Warsaw, prime minister Donald Tusk was reported to be in tears as he called an extraordinary meeting of his Cabinet.

Kaczynski, 60, became president in December 2005 after defeating Tusk in the presidential election.

The nationalist conservative was the twin brother of Poland's opposition leader, former prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Kaczynski had said he would seek a second term in presidential elections this autumn. He was expected to face an uphill struggle against speaker Bronislaw Komorowski, the candidate of Tusk's governing Civic Platform.

According to the constitution, Komorowski would take over presidential duties.

Kaczynski's wife, Maria, was an economist. They had a daughter, Marta, and two granddaughters.