The Sultanate of Oman’s Diwan of Royal Court today announced the death Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who passed away late Friday.

Three days of official mourning have been declared with flags flown at half-mast for 40 days.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said was born on November 18, 1940, and he assumed the reins of power in the Sultanate of Oman on July 23, 1970.

State news agency ONA did not give a cause of death, but the Sultan had been unwell for years and spent a week in Belgium undergoing medical treatment in early December.

Qaboos had no children and had not publicly appointed a successor. A 1996 statute says the ruling family will choose a successor within three days of the throne becoming vacant.

The high military council, in a statement carried on state media on Saturday, called on Oman’s ruling family council to convene to choose a new ruler.

If the council fails to agree, a council of military and security officials, supreme court chiefs and heads of the two consultative assemblies will put in power the person whose name has been secretly written by the Sultan in a sealed letter.

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