Helicopter crash kills Brazil news anchor

Ricardo BoechatImage copyright
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Ricardo Boechat was described as “a journalist’s journalist”

Ricardo Boechat, one of Brazil’s best-known journalists, has been killed in a helicopter crash in São Paulo.

The aircraft carrying the 66-year-old news anchor hit a lorry on a busy ring road in the city on Monday morning.

People across Brazil have been posting social media tributes to Mr Boechat, who was an award-winning radio and TV broadcaster with Bandeirantes, or Band.

Breaking the news live on TV, a colleague said it was “a very sad moment for Brazilian journalism”.

Mr Boechat had finished hosting his popular morning radio show, Café com Jornal, and was travelling in the helicopter when it came down on the motorway at 12:14 local time (14:14 GMT).

The pilot and the co-pilot are also believed to be have died. The driver of the lorry was rescued by paramedics.

Writing on social media, fellow journalists described him as “a journalist’s journalist”, praising his down-to-earth approach and “impactful” reporting.

Others said his death was not just a loss for Band, but for Brazilian journalism.

Band’s radio network also tweeted the news, saying that staff felt “profound sadness”.

Mr Boechat started working as a journalist in the 1970s, beginning his career as a reporter in Rio de Janeiro for the newspaper Diario de Noticias.

Throughout his accomplished career he wrote for a number of well-known Brazilian newspapers, before joining Band as an anchor.

source: bbc.com