Thousands mourn Brazil presidential candidate Campos

Thousands of mourners paid tribute to Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos here Sunday after the socialist politician’s death in a plane crash last week.

A line of mourners more than a kilometer (0.6 miles) long gathered before the local government headquarters in Recife to file past Campos’s coffin, placed outside the building to allow people to pay their final respects.

Brazil President Dilma Rousseff was in attendance as ceremonies got under way with an open air mass ahead of a funeral later Sunday.

Campos, 49, died when his campaign jet slammed into houses in Santos city in bad weather on Wednesday, killing all seven people on board and setting buildings alight.

He had been running third in opinion polls for the October election.

A popular former governor of the northeastern state of Pernambuco, Campos was married with five children.

Around 250 police officers were on duty for Sunday’s ceremonies, which began at 10:30 am (1330 GMT).

Rousseff, who leads the polls for October’s elections, was booed by sections of the crowd as she arrived for the mass.

Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and several ministers accompanied Rousseff, who was not scheduled to attend the burial of Campos set for 5:00 pm (2000 GMT).