(LIMA, Peru) — Former Peruvian President Alan García died Wednesday after shooting himself in the head moments after police attempted to detain him amid corruption allegations in Latin America’s largest graft probe.

President Martin Vizcarra announced on Twitter that García died after undergoing emergency surgery hours earlier. Doctors at the José Casimiro Ulloa Hospital in the capital city of Lima said they provided cardiac resuscitation three times while trying to save his life.

“Distraught over the death of ex-President Alan García,” Vizcarra wrote. “I send my condolences to his family and loved ones.”

Consternado por el fallecimiento del ex presidente Alan García. Envío mis condolencias a su familia y seres queridos.

— Martín Vizcarra (@MartinVizcarraC) April 17, 2019

The shocking end for the man who twice ruled Peru but more recently was ensnared in the Odebrecht corruption scandal comes amid national upheaval over endemic corruption involving nearly every former living presi..

Firefighters took swift action after flames engulfed Paris’ Notre Dame cathedral and focused their efforts on preventing the fire from reaching its famed bell towers in order to save the entire structure, fire officials said Wednesday.

“The two towers are pillars which keep the entire building up,” a Paris Fire Brigade official said during a press conference about two days after a fire spread in the cathedral. “The second you lose the war of the belfry, you lose the entire cathedral. It would have been a domino effect from there on out.”

First responders to the fire said the flames could have had a much worse effect had they not acted quickly and put in place equipment to prevent a collapse. Firefighters managed to save the main structure of the building, the towers and most of the relics and artworks stored in the cathedral in the nine hours it took to contain the fire, officials said.

The cathedral’s noted rose windows are “in good condition,” through its stone supports are at ris..

The massive fire that engulfed Paris’ landmark Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday, causing the monument’s iconic spire to collapse, highlighted the difficulty in protecting historical buildings from fire.

The cathedral is just one of many famous historical sites around the world that have been damaged by fire and required repair and restoration work to be returned to their former glory. Notre Dame sustained “colossal damage,” Cathedral spokesman Andre Finot told reporters. Firefighters are still surveying the full extent of the damage.

Many other historical buildings were able to re-open their doors after being successfully restored. With the work of skilled architects and builders, some sites were reconstructed in such a way that it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between original features and their replicas.

Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England — a governmental body that protects historical sites — tells TIME that, despite the pain of seeing a beloved landm..