Azerbaijani president collapses during TV speech

AZERBAIJAN’S long-serving president Haydar Aliyev collapsed while delivering a televised speech yesterday, briefly revived, but fell again.

The live broadcast showed the 79-year-old president of the oil-rich Caspian state clutch his heart and fall during a speech delivered to an assembly of dignitaries in the Palace of the Republic in the heart of the capital.

The television showed the audience applauding, then the group was heard to gasp. Bodyguards could be seen rushing towards him before transmission stopped.