Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika has died after a heart attack, medical and government sources said on Friday, although few of his countrymen mourned a leader widely seen as an autocrat responsible for a stunning economic collapse.

The 78-year-old was rushed to a hospital in Lilongwe on Thursday after collapsing but was dead on arrival, the sources said. State media said he had been flown to South Africa for treatment, although his immediate whereabouts remained unclear.

Medical sources said the former World Bank economist had been flown out because a power and energy crisis in the nation of 13 million was so severe that Lilongwe state hospital would have been unable to carry out a proper autopsy or even keep his body refrigerated.

Many Malawians blamed Mutharika personally for their economic woes, which stemmed ultimately from a diplomatic spat with former colonial power Britain a year ago.

"We know he is dead and unfortunately he died at a local, poor hospital which he never cared about - no drugs, no power," said Chimwemwe Phiri, a Lilongwe businessman waiting in a snaking line of cars for fuel at a petrol station.

There was no official announcement. State media said a statement would be made at midday.

As rumors of the death of the self-styled "Economist in Chief" swept the capital on Thursday night, there were even pockets of drunken jubilation among locals who saw him turning back the clock on 18 years of democracy in the "Warm Heart of Africa".

"I have yet to see anyone shedding a tear for Bingu," said Martin Mlenga, another businessman. "We all wished him dead, sorry to say that."

The constitution says Vice-President Joyce Banda will take over as head of state. Analysts said there would be a smooth transition, even though Banda was booted out of Mutharika's ruling DPP party in 2010 after an argument about succession.

Mutharika appeared to have been grooming his Foreign Minister brother Peter as his successor, although there was little question of the army and police not respecting the law, said former Attorney General Ralph Kasambara. The next election is due in 2014.

Police deployed in force across the capital immediately after Mutharika's hospital admission, although it was business as usual on Friday as residents went about their daily struggle to get by.

Reuters