A politician with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party has died after collapsing on a plane during a flight home to Germany.
Karin Strenz, 53, was flying back from Cuba with her husband, said Eckhardt Rehberg, a fellow politician with their centre-right Christian Democratic Union party, according to news agency dpa.
The plane made an emergency landing in Ireland, but rescuers were unable to save Ms Strenz, said Mr Rehberg. The cause of death is unclear, as is why she had travelled to Cuba.
The German parliament's lower house, the Bundestag, said she was not travelling on official parliamentary business.
Prosecutors in Schwerin said they had opened an investigation to determine the cause of her death and would request assistance from Ireland. They said they expect that an autopsy will be conducted in Ireland.
Ms Strenz had been a member of the German parliament since 2009, representing a constituency in the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
She did not plan to seek re-election in Germany's election on September 26. Early last year, Ms Strenz and another politician were targeted in raids by prosecutors investigating alleged money transfers from Azerbaijan.
