Maradona's mother dies at 81

The Argentine football star Diego Armando Maradona's mother died at the age of 81 Saturday night in the Los Arcos clinic of Buenos Aires. Hospital sources said in a press release that Maradona's mother had been hospitalized since Friday because of chronic renal failure and hemodynamic instability. "Maneuvers began for hemodynamic support, dialysis and mechanical ventilation, despite which Dalma Salvadora Franco presented a cardiac decompensation at 6:30 p.m. (2130 GMT)," the hospital said. Maradona was in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he coaches the Al Wasl team, and made an urgent return to Argentina, where he is expected to arrive Sunday afternoon. Maradona's mother Dalma Salvadora Franco, known as "Dona Tota," had been previously hospitalized in July this year in the Argentina Suizo Clinic with cardiac problems. She was the mother of five daughters and three sons.