Vietnam's 'King of Danang' Nguyen Ba Thanh mourned by all

Lunar New Year celebrations were being toned down in Da Nang this week as the central Vietnamese city mourned the death of a former top official.

Nguyen Ba Thanh, 62, head of Vietnam's Central Interior Commission, died on Friday from cancer, an official said.

A widely admired senior figure in the country's ruling Communist Party, Thanh, known as "the King of Da Nang ", enjoyed rare personal popularity in a nation better known for bureaucratic apparatchiks.As the city mourned his loss, the Lunar New Year fireworks were among the events cancelled this week.

Hundreds of people gathered near his Da Nang house to pay their respects to the man who led the city from 1997 to 2013 and helped it develop a vibrant tourism industry and emerge as a growing tech hub.

One mourner, Nguyen Thi Hoang Oanh, said: "Everyone from little children to adults loved him. Uncle Ho [Chi Minh] was number one. Thanh was number two. I wonder about the future, if there will be another leader like him."

When the poor sat outside Thanh's home he invited them in and addressed their problems, Oanh said. "I am afraid. I am scared there is nobody like him who can lead Danang. He would do anything for the people, though they did nothing for him. People wanted him to live for 100 years," Oanh said.