The coffin of United Nations Coordinator for Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello is being carried out of the City Palace in Rio de Janeiro to be taken to the airport where it will board a plane for Europe.
Vieira de Mello died on Aug 19 in a suicide bomb attack against the U.N compound in Baghdad. In the deadliest attack ever against the U.N. organization, a suicide bomber drove a flatbed truck loaded with 1,500 pounds of explosive up to the wall of the compound, just under Vieira de Mello’s office, and set it off. More than 20 people were killed and dozens were wounded in the attack.