DADU, June 26 Popular poet Ahmed Khan Madhosh died in a Karachi hospital on Saturday after a prolonged fight with cancer. He was 79.

He leaves behind two sons and four daughters to mourn his death.

Madhosh was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation, Karachi, four days ago but he could not keep up the fight for life and died.

His body was brought to Johi in an ambulance arranged by the Sindh Culture Department, said the poet's son Khalil Ahmed Soomro. His funeral prayers would be held in the ground of Government Boys Higher Secondary School, Johi, and he would be buried in Wasil Faqir graveyard, he said.

Johi, the hometown of eminent Sindhi poet, remained closed on Saturday in mourning over its illustrious son's death as people started gathering at the poet's house in Soomra Mohalla to offer condolences and express their grief.

Ahmed Khan Madhosh was born on April 5, 1931 in Sultan Chandio village in Khairpur Nathan Shah taluka. He passed his final examination (equivalent to today's secondary school certificate) from a Johi school and joined teaching profession.

He started writing poetry in 1960. His first poem appeared in Mehran, a popular magazine of that time and famous singers like Mumtaz Lashari and Manzoor Sakhirani sang his songs. Madhosh wrote five anthologies. Two of them titled “Nazar Men Nazarband” and “Dil Joon Galhiyoon” have been published and three remain unpublished.