国际英语新闻:Brazilians mourn presidential candidate killed in plane crash

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Brazilians gathered in the northeastern city of Recife on Sunday to pay their respect to presidential candidate Eduardo Campos who was killed in a plane crash four days ago.

Since early morning, hundreds of people began to line up at the gubernatorial palace of Pernambuco, to bid farewell to Campos, a former governor of the Pernambuco state.

Some at the Sunday funeral sang Pernambuco's hymn and held flags of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), mourning the loss of the candidate of PSB to run the Oct. 5 presidential elections in the South American country. He was running third in opinion polls.

Campos, 49, and six others were killed Wednesday when their plane crashed into a residential neighborhood in the city of Santos just before landing. Political observers believe his death has injected uncertainty into October's elections.

President Dilma Rousseff traveled to Recife to pay her respect to Campos. Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also arrived to offer sympathy to the widow and the five children of Campos who served as his minister of science and technology.

Campos' running mate, renowned environmentalist Marina Silva, joined the family throughout the vigil.

The remains of Campos arrived on Saturday night to Recife's Airbase, where relatives, friends and colleagues of the socialist candidate, including Silva, waited outside for the arrival.

Campos will be buried next to his grandfather Miguel Arraes, a famous left-wing leader in Pernambuco, who died on Aug. 13, 2005, exactly nine years before his grandson.