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1stLD Writethru: former Indian president "missile man" Kalam dies

Xinhua, July 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

Former Indian president and father of India's missile technology, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, died Monday evening in Maghalaya's state capital city of Shillong after collapsing during a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management- Shillong.

Kalam, 83, who was president from 2002 to 2007, died at 19:45 p. m. at the Bethany Hospital where he was rushed to from the university campus. Kalam was delivering a lecture on "liveable planet" at the university, local media reports said.

Kalam spoke for five minutes when he suddenly collapsed, said the reports.

Meghalaya state governor V. Shanmuganathan said the doctors " made enormous efforts to save him but we lost a great leader".

Meghalaya Chief Secretary P.B.O. Warjri also told the media: " Kalam is no more."

Kalam is one of India's most accomplished scientists and widely known as India's "Missile Man".

He played a key role in India's nuclear test at Pokhran in Rajasthan in May 1998, soon after Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the prime minister. Endi