Brazilian Presidential Hopeful Eduardo Campos Dies in Plane Crash
Brazilian Presidential candidate Eduardo Campos died in a plane crash while flying with six others just outside Sao Paulo Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal reported the private jet was preparing to land in Santos, but bad weather forced it to change course, which is what it was doing when it crashed.
Confirmation on the status of the remaining six passenger and crew is not available.
Campos, 49, was reportedly in third place with his bid for presidency, and had chosen an environmentalist -- Marina Silva -- as his running mate, a choice that shook the political world, according to The Guardian.
Silva, who has had previous experience in the presidential race in 2010, is expected to head the campaign now, but no official word has been received.
After hearing the news, campaign members headed to the crash site, expressing their emotions on social media.
"We're stunned. It seems that there are no survivors ... An irreparable loss," representative Julio Delgado told local media, according to The Guardian.
The other six people included a press manager, a journalist and an official photographer.
Campos had the support of 10 percent of the population and was seen as a business-friendly candidate, according to The Huffington Post.
Campos was a former governor of the northeastern state of Pernambuco, and had a lot of support from the banking and industrial groups in Latin America's most populous country.
President Dilma Rousseff announced a three-day mourning period which include a halt on all campaigning.
Campos had just been on national television the night before in an interview which was praised by pundits, and would have likely risen in polls, according to The Huffington Post.
His death has already caused speculations to swirl in the political sphere and has impacted the upcoming elections in October, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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