Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople died of a heart attack after the plane he was on made an emergency landing in Taipei to seek medical treatment for him, officials said Sunday.

Ople, 75, suffered the heart attack late Saturday while on a Japan Asia Airways flight from Tokyo to Bangkok after attending an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, Taiwan officials said.

The flight crew attempted to resuscitate him while the plane diverted its course and flew to Taipei, Taiwan's Liberty Times quoted airport officials as saying.

Medical staff at Taoyuan's Minsheng Hospital gave Ople emergency treatment but failed to save him, hospital officials said.

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