A lawmaker in Angela Merkel’s party died after passing out on a plane while flying home in Germany.
Karin Strenz, 53, was traveling from Cuba with her husband, said Eckhardt Rehberg, a fellow legislator in his center-right Christian Democratic Union, according to the dpa news agency.
The plane made an emergency landing in Ireland, but rescuers were unable to save Strenz, Rehberg said on Sunday. It was not clear what was the cause of death or why she visited Cuba.
The lower house of the German parliament, the Bundestag, said on Monday that it was not traveling on official parliamentary business.
Prosecutors in the city of Schwerin said they opened an investigation to determine the cause of death, which is standard practice in such cases, and would seek assistance from Ireland. They said they expected an autopsy to be performed in Ireland.
Strenz had been a member of the German parliament since 2009, representing an electorate in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
She did not plan to seek re-election in the September 26 election in Germany. Early last year, Strenz and another lawmaker were targeted by raids by prosecutors investigating alleged money transfers from Azerbaijan.