Brazilian presidential candidate among those killed in plane crash

Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos died Wednesday when a small plane carrying him to a campaign stop crashed into a residential neighborhood, state media reported, according to CNN.

All seven people aboard the Cessna 560XL were killed when the aircraft crashed in the coastal city of Santos, Brazil, about 40 miles south of Sao Paulo, state-run Agencia Brasil reported.

As the aircraft prepared to land, it swerved because of bad weather. The air traffic control tower immediately lost contact with the plane, Agencia Brasil said.

One witness, a pilot trainee, said he heard a loud noise and saw the plane flying low before it crashed into a house and then the ground.

It was pitched down at 70 degrees, and "hit the ground like a rock," Matheus Giovannini said.

Campos, 49, was a well known politician running in his first presidential election as a candidate for the Brazilian Socialist Party.

He was most recently the governor of Pernambuco state and was a federal lawmaker from 1998 to 2003. He was married and had five children.

An adviser, photographer, two pilots, and two others from Campos' political team were also killed in the plane crash.

A dozen people on the ground were injured when the plane crashed, Agencia Brasil reported.