Father Stan lights a candle for Polish president Lech Kaczynski. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 0950188)

PEOPLE of many nationalities filled St Joseph’s Church yesterday for a service for the Polish president.

Lech Kaczynski and his wife were killed along with 95 others when the plane carrying them attempted to land in heavy fog in Russia on Saturday.

They had travelled to Russia to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Forest massacre in which more than 20,000 Polish officers and intellectuals were killed by Soviet forces.

Polish priest Father Stan Gibzimski, who has been in the island for 18 months, decidedto hold the service after receiving many phone calls of condolence from the local community.

‘They had died and the question was, “what can I do?”,’ he said.

‘I could do nothing but pray for them. I received plenty of information from Polish people and there was more solidarity. It was for them to feel something together’

• Read the full story in the Guernsey Press. See below for subscription details.