Former Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam dies at age 83

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Yesterday, former Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam died at the age of 83 after collapsing at about 6:30 p.m. local time (0000 today UTC) while delivering a speech about Livable Planet Earth at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong, in Meghalaya, India. Abdul Kalam was taken to Bethany Hospital’s intensive care unit and was declared dead about an hour and a half later.

Some army doctors were sent from North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences. According to doctors at Bethany Hospital, Kalam was dead by 7 p.m. but they waited for the arrival of Meghalaya chief minister V. Shanmuganathan, about an hour later, before announcing the death.

LC Goyal, home secretary, said the Indian government will declare a seven day national mourning for Kalam. Home minister Rajnath Singh tweeted, “He was an inspiration to an entire generation.”

Kalam’s presidential term completed in July 2007.