Former Vale CEO Agnelli killed in Brazil plane crash
SAO PAULO, March 19 (Reuters) - The former chief executive of the world's largest iron ore miner Vale, Roger Agnelli, was among seven people killed when a small plane crashed on Saturday in the northern suburbs of Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo, O Globo newspaper reported.
Emergency services confirmed to Reuters that the pilot and six passengers were killed when the plane crashed shortly after takeoff from the airport of Campo de Marte in Sao Paulo's northern suburbs around 1520 local time.
See photos of the scene:
One person on the ground was also injured when the 7-seater CA-9 aircraft slammed into two buildings, but other residents were removed unharmed, a spokesman for the local fire department said.
Weather in Sao Paulo was sunny and clear at the time of the crash.
Records for the National Agency of Civil Aviation (ANAC) showed the plane was owned by Agnelli, 56, who ran Vale for a decade until 2011, but a spokesman could not confirm the list of passengers.
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Three senior sources in Brazil's business community told Reuters that he was on the plane, but it was not immediately possible to officially confirm this.
Known for his discipline and hot temper, Agnelli clinched Vale's top job in July 2001 after 19 years as an investment banker with Banco Bradesco SA, one of Vale's controlling shareholders.
At the mining giant, he instilled a culture of meritocracy that turned Vale into Brazil's No. 1 exporter for most of last decade.
In 2012, he made a partnership with Brazil's largest investment bank BTG Pactual to create B&A Mineracao, an investment company focused on the mining sector.
View photos of Roger Agnelli through the years:
(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer and Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
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