Vice Premier Hui Liangyu as President Hu Jintao's special envoy left Beijing for Saudi Arabia Tuesday morning to extend condolences on the death of King Fahd Ibn Abdul-Aziz.

The king died early Monday in the Saudi capital of Riyadh where he was admitted to the hospital in May due to acute pneumonia. Fahd's half-brother, Crown Prince Abdullah, was named the successor.

(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2005)