Presidential candidate dead after plane crash in Brazil – Dagbladet.no

(Dagbladet): Presidential candidate Eduardo Campos (49) died today after a plane type Cessna 560 XL crashed in a residential area in the city of Santos, on the coast off Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo, according to Globo News.

At least seven killed

Campos was one of the candidates in the presidential elections in October later this year. The polls were Campos likely around 10 percent of the vote, behind incumbent President Dilma Rousseff and Senator Aécio Neves.

– Campos lined up for PSB, which is a little populist socialist party. In previous presidential elections, the party supported Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, who was twice elected president. Campos was Minister of Science and Technology under Lula. In the autumn election, he would line up against the successor Lula, Dilma Rousseff current president. However, according to opinion polls, he had little opportunity to become Brazil’s next president, says Dagbladet foreign worker, Einar Hagvåg.

President Dilma Rousseff has suspended his campaign until further notice. She takes the former President Lula of Pernambuco in northeast Brazil, where the deceased Eduardo Campos belonged.

Six others also died in the crash, according to the newspaper Folha do A São Paulo. Fire crews in Santos, Brazil, told the news portal G1 at least ten people were injured in the tragic accident, many of them people who were on the ground.

– It is dead in the accident, but we have not confirmed any definite number, say police in São Paulo, according to AFP. The fire impede access to the site, type NTB.

In shock

The famous environmental-activist Marina Siva, who was Minister of Environment under President Lula, should have been with the plane. She posed as a candidate for vice president with Campos. But at the last minute she changed her mind and was not with the plane. Marina Silva worked closely with the Minister of Environment of Norway, Erik Solheim.

Marina was in shock state when she learned of the accident, type A Folha de São Paulo.

She is heading to the scene near the port of Santos.

Television pictures showed black smoke rising from the place where the plane crashed. It must have hit a sports hall and two houses.