Presidential Candidate Eduardo Campos Dies in Plane Crash in Santos

08/13/2014 - 14h45

The presidential candidate of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), Eduardo Henrique Accioly Campos, died on Wednesday morning in a plane crash in Santos, on São Paulo's south coast. Campos turned 49 on August 10.

The plane left Rio de Janeiro's Santos Dumont airport, heading for the city of Guarujá, close to Santos. The accident occurred on the Rua Vahia de Abreu, in the Boqueirão neighborhood in central Santos. According to the fire service, two people were killed and at least seven injured.

However, according to Jonas Donizzetti, mayor of Campinas and one of Campos' main allies in São Paulo, the information given by the PSB to the São Paulo state government is that there are no survivors amongst those who were aboard.

The former senator Marina Silva, who was running as Campos' vice, was in Rio yesterday and was due to fly with Campos. However, she changed her plans at the last minute, taking a different route and flying with her advisors.

Silva is now at home in São Paulo with members of her party Rede Sustentabilidade (Sustainability Network) and other friends and associates. According to sources close to Silva, she is currently in a state of shock and is refusing to make any public statement on the issue.

Since this morning, when reports of the accident begin to emerge, people working on the PSB's presidential campaign have been frantically trying to confirm who exactly was on the aircraft.

A group of politicians was waiting for Campos in Guarujá, but he did not appear and no attempts to contact him by telephone were successful. Taking into account the route of the aircraft, everything seemed to suggest that he was among the victims of the accident.

Campos was married to Renata Campos, an economist and licensed auditor at the Pernambuco Court of Accounts. They have five children - Maria Eduarda, João Henrique, Pedro Henrique, José Henrique, and Miguel, born at the start of this year.

Campos and Renata were childhood sweethearts. Their relationship started in Recife when he was 15 and she just 13.

CAREER

A native of Recife, Campos was son of Ana Arraes, a judge at the Federal Court of Accounts, and the writer Maximiano Campos (1941 - 1998). He was also grandson of the ex-governor of Pernambuco, Miguel Arraes (1916 - 2005).

An economics graduate of the Federal University of Pernambuco, Campos began his political activity as president of the Academic Directorship at the economics department in 1985. In 1990, he joined the PSB and was elected to the state government of Pernambuco.

Four years later, he became congressman, but remained in the Pernambuco government during his grandfather's administration (1995 - 1998), first as a secretary to the government, then at the Ministry of Finance.

Re-elected as congressman in 1998, Campos became president of the PSB in 2005. The following year he became governor of Pernambuco.

Minister for Science and Technology during the Lula administration, Campos distanced himself from the Workers' Party and President Dilma Rousseff at the end of 2013. He then sealed an alliance with the ex-senator Marina Silva, who was running as his candidate for vice-president.

RESCUE OPERATION

The fire brigade sent eight cars to help the victims at the site of the accident in central Santos. Electricity in all streets close to the site was switched off, in order to help the rescue operation and to aid firefighters in their efforts to put out the fire started by the plane.

The São Paulo Ministry of Health also said that State Secretary for Health David Uip is on his way to the scene.

According to the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), around 9:50am the pilot said that visibility was too poor for a landing in Guarujá, and he changed course. Soon afterwards, the control tower lost contact with the plane.

The plane was a Cessna 560XL Citation light aircraft, with capacity for just 12 people. It had departed from Rio at 9:30am. Campos was due to appear at campaign events in Guarujá with his running mate, Marina Silva.

According to the São Paulo president of the PSB, who was expecting Campos in Guarujá, the aircraft changed course. 'We lost contact after that,' he said.

For nearly an hour afterwards members of Campos' campaign, journalists and air traffic controllers were frantically trying to establish contact with the lost aircraft, but to no avail.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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