The plane was forced to return to KLIA 40 minutes after taking off from the international airport.

“The victim died on a plane from KLIA to Kota Kinabalu,” KLIA police chief Imran Abd Rahman said, adding that Samsuddin was found unconscious 20 minutes after the plane took off.

Imran said Samsuddin had undergone a heart surgery in 2009 and had a health check three days ago.

Sabah chief minister Hajiji Noor and deputy chief minister Bung Moktar Radin were among those who expressed their condolences to Samsuddin’s family.

Samsuddin was the former Batu Sapi Umno division chief. He first won the Sekong seat for Umno in 2004 and retained the seat for two more terms before losing in the last general election.