Hanoi, September 21 (RHC)-- Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang died Friday after a serious illness, the government said.  He was 61.

Quang passed away at 10:05 a.m. in Hanoi´s Central Military Hospital despite “utmost efforts to treat him by Vietnamese and foreign professors and doctors and care by the party and state leaders,” the statement said.

Born in northern Ninh Binh province, Quang attended a police college and rose through the ranks at the Ministry of Public Security before being appointed minister in 2011.

A career security officer and four-star general, Quang was elected president in April 2016 by the Vietnamese National Assembly.

He was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, a member of the Political Bureau and delegate of the National Assembly.

The sudden death of the Vietnamese president was described by Cuba's daily Granma newspaper as a painful loss for the Cuban government and people.