Brazilian Defence Minister Waldir Pires resigned Wednesday in the wake of the country's worst plane crash last week and an accident late last year that unleashed an aviation crisis in the South American country, the president's office confirmed, according to dpa. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accepted the resignation of Pires, who will be replaced by former Federal Supreme Court president Nelson Jobim. Pires' position as minister has been weakening for 10 months, since a Boeing crashed with a smaller plane in mid-air over the Amazon rainforest killing 154 people. The accident unleased a crisis with periods of chaos in Brazil's airports, with massive delays and flight cancellations. The final blow was an accident that killed an estimated 200 people last week at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport when a plane overshot a runway and crashed into a fuel depot.
