Ethiopian church patriarch dies

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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- The head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Abune Paulos, died Thursday at the age of 76 after suffering a heart attack, officials said.

The patriarch died in the early morning after he fell ill and was rushed to hospital Wednesday evening, the BBC reported.

Mulugeta Aserate Kassa, an adviser at the Ethiopian Embassy in London, said Abune Paulos was "very healthy" earlier Wednesday, when he led a service in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Abune Paulos was chosen to lead the church in 1992, a year after the fall of the communist government of Mengistu Haile Mariam. During Mengistu's rule, Abune Paulos was exiled to the United States, Mulugeta said.