This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-28778604
The article has changed 10 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 4 | Version 5 |
---|---|
Brazil presidential candidate Campos dies in air crash | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
The Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos, 49, has died in a plane crash, party members and local officials say. | The Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos, 49, has died in a plane crash, party members and local officials say. |
The plane carrying Mr Campos came down in bad weather in a residential area of the port city of Santos, in Sao Paulo state. | |
Local reports say four other passengers and the two pilots were also killed. | |
President Dilma Rousseff has declared three days of national mourning and cancelled campaign events. | |
"The whole of Brazil is in mourning," Ms Rousseff said in a statement. | |
"We lost a great Brazilian today, Eduardo Campos. We lost a great comrade," she added, calling her rival a "great political leader". | |
'No words' | 'No words' |
Ms Rousseff's Vice President, Michel Temer, also expressed his regret over the death of Mr Campos, who had been running third in the polls for October's election. | |
He said there were "no words to describe the tragedy that has befallen Brazilian politics today". | |
"Eduardo Campos was a politician with principles and values passed down through his family and carried with dignity and honour throughout his career in parliament and the executive," he added in a statement. | |
The BBC's Wyre Davies in Rio de Janeiro says Brazil has been rocked by the news. | |
Mr Campos' family had actively opposed Brazil's military rule (1964-1985). | Mr Campos' family had actively opposed Brazil's military rule (1964-1985). |
Bad weather | Bad weather |
A married father of five children, he served two terms as governor of the north-eastern Pernambuco state. | |
His vice-presidential candidate, Marina Silva, a popular politician and a former government minister, was reportedly meant to have been on the plane with him but decided not to travel. | |
Mr Campos was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Guaruja airport, outside Sao Paulo, when it hit bad weather, aviation authority spokesman Pedro Luis Farcic said. | |
According to air force officials, air traffic control lost contact with the plane after it was unable to land at Guaruja due to bad weather. | |
It plunged into several houses in a densely-populated neighbourhood, sending plumes of smoke into the air. | |
Local residents said the sky was cloudy and it was raining at the time of the crash. | |
All seven people aboard the plane, including a campaign photographer and cameraman, a press adviser, as well as two pilots, died in the crash, City Hall press officer Patricia Fagueiro told the Associated Press news agency. | |
Police and emergency workers are at the scene in Santos, 70km (43 miles) south-east of Brazil's biggest city, Sao Paulo. | |
The Brazilian Air Force reported the plane was a Cessna 560XL. |