Shukri Ghanem, the Libyan oil minister who defected at the height of that country’s recent civil war, has been found dead in the Danube River near Vienna, al-Jazeera reports.
 
Ghanem’s daughter, who lives with him in the city, reported him missing to police after she woke up to find that he was not in their apartment. Police found his body floating in the river near a popular waterfront restaurant district, Copa Cagrana. Police said the cause of death was not immediately apparent, and that there were no signs of external violence. An autopsy will be performed.
 
Ghanem was one of the highest profile defectors from Moammar Ghaddafi’s government in the civil war that eventually saw the eccentric dictator killed. The uprising began in February of 2011 as part of the Arab Spring, with mass protests that morphed into armed rebellion as government forces attempted to crack down, firing on protestors in Benghazi.
 
The full-fledged civil war that resulted saw the United Nations freeze Ghaddafi’s assets and establish a no-fly zone above the North African country as well as try to prevent civilian casualties. The US provided significant air support for the effort, conducting manned and drone strikes aimed at ground targets.
 
After a back-and-forth war that lasted through August, rebel forces of the National Transitional Council—Libya’s interim government—attacked Tripoli, the nation’s capital and a Ghaddafi loyalist stronghold, while coordinating with opposition forces within the city. The NTL’s victory marked the end of the civil war. In October, security forces captured and killed Ghaddafi as he was attempting to flee the country.
 
Ghanem defected last May, escaping into neighboring Tunisia, but he declined to formally work with the NTL in its effort to topple Ghaddafi. Instead, he moved to Vienna, a city he was familiar with due to his work as Libya’s OPEC representative. At the time of his death, he was working as a consultant for a Viennese company, whose name has not been disclosed.
 
He left his home sometime early Sunday morning and was discovered floating in the river by a passerby. There is no evidence linking his death with the Libyan revolution, but police are investigating all angles.