Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos died Wednesday in an airplane crash in the southeastern city of Santos, Globo News and Folha de S. Paulo reported. He was 49.
Campos, the former governor of Pernambuco state, was traveling from Rio de Janeiro when the crash occurred at about 10 a.m. local time. Nine people were killed, Brazil's Military Police said, without naming the victims. Television images showed overcast and rainy weather in Santos.
With just over seven weeks to go before the Oct. 5 election, Campos was running third in polls, trailing President Dilma Rousseff and Senator Aecio Neves. He quit Rousseff's ruling coalition last year in the aftermath of street protests over inflation, World Cup spending and corruption that pulled the government's popularity to record low.