Former German chancellor Schmidt in hospital 'for dehydration'

Former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt, 96, is being treated in hospital for dehydration, reports said Saturday.

A spokesman for the St Georg clinic in the northern city of Hamburg confirmed that the former Social Democrat chancellor had been admitted on Friday without giving details of his condition.

German media including the Bild and Hamburger Abendblatt newspapers said Schmidt was showing symptoms of dehydration, probably after failing to drink enough water during a recent heatwave in Germany.

"Fortunately, (his condition) is not serious," Karl-Heinz Kuck, the chief doctor at the clinic, told Bild.

Schmidt, who was chancellor from 1974 to 1982, is expected to leave hospital on Monday at the latest.

The veteran politician is a chain smoker who has refused to give up the habit.