KOTA KINABALU, March 28 — Sabah Health and Public Well-being Minister Datuk Stephen Wong Tien Fatt died this morning after suffering a cardiac arrest during a morning hike.

Wong, 64, was Sabah DAP chairman and the federal lawmaker for Sandakan.

A party member confirmed his death this morning after the minister was admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital here.

Wong is survived by three daughters and a son.

His aide, Henry Shim, said Wong had gone for a hike at Tambaig Adventure Hill organised by JCI this morning at about 6.30am with his wife.

"It was about a one-and-half hour hike and quite uphill. Towards the end, he was struggling. He pushed himself to finish it but said later he was not feeling well,” Shim told Malay Mail.

"As we left, we decided we were going to go to seek medical treatment at a private clinic but on the way, I received a call from his (Wong’s) driver and he said it was getting serious so we decided to go to Queen Elizabeth Hospital which was closer,” he said, adding that it was about 9am then.

Wong was rushed to the emergency department for treatment.

A statement issued by his aide declared the official time of death at 12.15pm.

His body will be placed at the Fook Lu Siew funeral parlour from now till tomorrow to allow friends and well-wishers to pay their last respects before being sent to Sandakan on Saturday for the official funeral.

The hospital declared the official time of death at 10.50am, with the official cause being a heart attack.

Details of his funeral have yet to be released.

News of his death reached political circles at around noon and drew an outpouring of condolences.

Wong first became a lawmaker when he won the Sandakan parliamentary seat in the 2013 general election by defeating then-Barisan Nasional incumbent Datuk VK Liew, who is now with Parti Warisan Sabah and a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.

In 2018, Wong retained the Sandakan parliamentary seat with 19,094 votes against the 8,996 votes his LDP opponent received.

Wong was one of five nominated lawmakers in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly, which had allowed him to hold a state Cabinet post.

His death will trigger the country’s second by-election for a federal seat since the general election.