UPDATE - Oman's Sultan Qaboos dead at 79

UPDATES WITH NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL STATEMENT; CHANGES DECK

By Hussein Mahmoud Ragab

MUSCAT, OMAN (AA) - Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman died Saturday, according to the country's Diwan of Royal Court. He was 79.

A three-day national mourning period was declared.

The National Security Council called for the royal family to meet to designate a new ruler, in accord with Article Six of the Constitution as the sultan did not appoint a successor.

The council, chaired by Sultan bin Mohammed Al Numani, gathered after the sultan’s death, will continue until a new ruler is named.

If a consensus cannot be reached in a three-day period, the National Security Council, the President of the Supreme Court and the heads of the advisory council will open an envelope containing the name proposed by Sultan Qaboos to take over the throne and head the country.

Sultan Qaboos went abroad for treatment twice since 2014. He went to Belgium on Dec. 7 because of health problems and returned Dec. 13, Oman News Agency reported.

Qaboos bin Said, was sultan since 1970 and the eighth sultan of the House of Al Said. He was the longest-serving monarch among the present Arab rulers.