Looters Reportedly Steal Valuables at Scene of Jetliner Crash in Poland
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WARSAW — Looters stole rings and other valuables from among the remains of the 183 people killed in the crash of a Polish jetliner near Warsaw on Saturday, a state-owned newspaper said Monday.
The report came as a government commission continued its investigation into why the Soviet-built Ilyushin 62M from the Polish state airline LOT crashed into a forest after taking off from Warsaw on a flight to New York.
LOT announced Monday that it will pay all funeral expenses and $75,000 for each victim to the survivors of the 172 passengers and 11 crew members killed in the crash. The airline has also offered free New York-Warsaw round trips to immediate family members living in the United States.
Twenty-four of the victims were U.S. citizens, the State Department announced Monday. About 14 others were Polish residents who lived in the United States.
The youth newspaper Sztandar Mlodych reported that witnesses saw a group of people running to the crash site two minutes after the jetliner went down.
The looters descended upon the crash site “to pull rings from the fingers of the bodies and to get rich on this cemetery,” a witness said.
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