Russian ambassador to Sudan found dead

KHARTOUM - Agence France-Presse

Russia's ambassador to Sudan, veteran diplomat Mirgayas Shirinsky, was found dead in the swimming pool at his Khartoum home on Aug. 23, Sudanese and Russian officials said.

"The Russian ambassador died this evening at his Khartoum residence," the Sudanese foreign ministry said in a statement, without giving a cause of death.

"He was found dead in the swimming pool of his residence at 7:05 pm," police spokesman Omar al-Mokhtar told AFP.

"Preliminary investigation shows that his death was natural," he said, as an embassy spokesman said it apparently was caused by a heart attack.

Russia's RIA Novosti state news agency reported the veteran diplomat's death, citing the foreign ministry in Moscow.

"We grieve to announce that on August 23 in Khartoum the Russian ambassador to Sudan, M. Shirinsky, died," it said.  

The press secretary at Russia's embassy, Sergei Konyashin, said there were signs the ambassador had suffered a heart attack.

“Mirgayas Shirinsky was found in his residency in a suburb of Khartoum with signs of an acute heart attack. Doctors were called but they didn’t manage to save him," Konyashin told Rossiya-24 TV.

Mokhtar said Sudanese officials had taken Shirinsky's body to a morgue in the capital and were awaiting instructions from the Russian foreign ministry.

A fluent Arabic and English speaker, Shirinsky had been a diplomat since 1977.