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Rousseff rival killed in crash

August 13, 2014

Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos has died in a plane crash, ahead of elections in October. Brazil’s air force said the small Cessna aircraft carrying Campos had attempted to land in bad weather.

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Image: picture-alliance/dpa

Campos' private jet crashed amid inclement weather as it prepared to land in the coastal city of Santos, just south of Sao Paulo, the state fire department said on Wednesday.

All seven people aboard the plane, including a campaign photographer and cameraman, as well as a press advisor, died in the crash, according to Brazilian press officer Patricia Fagueiro.

The air force reported that Campos was on board a Cessna 560XL, headed from Rio de Janeiro for Guaruja, when it went down in a residential district in the port city of Santos.

Campos, 49, was third in recent polls and had around 10 percent voter support. Affiliated with Brazil's Socialist Party (PSB), he was also seen as the most market-friendly of the three main candidates.

Campos was third in the running ahead of October elections
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

President Dilma Rousseff, who currently leads the race, announced she would suspend all campaigning and called for a three-day period of mourning. Senator Aecio Neves, the centrist candidate currently in second place, said he was "immensely saddened” by Campos' death.

Campos was married and the father of five children. The tragedy could see his running mate, Marina Silva, become the PSB's candidate for the national poll on October 5.

glb/msh (AFP, dpa, Reuters)