MEXICO CITY, NOV 12: Mexico's Nobel laureate poet Octavio Paz has said reports of his death earlier in the day had been greatly exaggerated.

In a live telephone interview with Mexico's 24 Hours night newscast, Paz denied a report of his death transmitted hours earlier by an international news agency.

``It was an awfully stupid rumour about my premature death. It pains me that those who work at killing me are in such a hurry about it,'' the 83-year-old poet said yesterday.

Anguished fans called Mexican radio stations to mourn the alleged death after hearing the unconfirmed report. The news agency later withdrew its story and apologised for the error.

``We shouldn't die, but if one has to die, then it should be at one's own time, with a smile. Those who trade in early deaths do not have smiles,'' Paz said.

Paz won the Nobel prize for literature in 1990. He also wrote The labyrinth of solitude, his best-known and most controversial work that takes a critical look at the Mexican personality. Paz has been in and out of hospitals this year due to phlebitis, a condition which causes blood circulation problems.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.