Zillur Rahman - Illness and Death

Illness and Death

Rahman died at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore after he was flown to the country by an air ambulance for critical lung infection on 10 March 2013. It followed his admission to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) at Dhaka cantonment the previous day. In Singapore, he had been undergoing treatment for kidney and respiratory problems since 11 March. Bangladesh's High Commissioner in Singapore Mahbub Uz Zaman announced: "The president died at a hospital here in Singapore at 6:47 pm local time." At the time of his death his children were with him. In his absence, Parliamentary Speaker Abdul Hamid was appointed as acting president on 14 March. A presidential spokesman later announced that Hamid has declared three days of national mourning. He was buried in Dhaka's Banani graveyard.

In reaction to his death, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's immediate response was to express profound shock and that the death was "an irreparable loss to the country and its people," according to her Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad.