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At least 10 people are reported injured in aircraft crash in southeastern Brazil. The flying vehicle was reportedly carrying presidential candidate Eduardo Campos and came down near a school in a built-up area in the city of Santos.

The aircraft went down in a residential area of the port city of Santos, in Sao Paulo State.

"There are fatalities but we still do not have a number confirmed," Sao Paulo State police told AFP, adding that a fire was hampering access to the area.

Santos firefighters said there were at least 10 people injured, according to online news portal G1.

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Sources inside Eduardo Campos' party told Reuters their leader was on board the crashed aircraft. He was killed in the accident, GloboNews TV reported without disclosing where the information came from. Campos is the leader of the left-of-center Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) and is set to challenge President Dilma Rousseff in a presidential poll set for next year.
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According to officials from the Brazilian Air Force, air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft after it failed to land in Guaruja because of bad weather. Locals have said that it was overcast and raining when the crash happened.

Some reports have stated the aircraft was a helicopter, while others say it was a Cessna 560XL, a small type of private jet.

Campos was considered both a modern manager and an old fashioned boss and had been a successful governor of the poor, northeastern state of Pernambuco. Some of the changes he introduced included attracting private investment, bringing private managers into state hospitals and putting some schools on an eight hour day, rather than the normal four-hour shifts common in Brazil.