A 21-year-old severely handicapped Frenchman at the centre of a euthanasia debate in the country died on Friday after his mother put an overdose in his intravenous drip.

Former fireman Vincent Humbert was quadriplegic, blind and dumb.

Vincent became the centre of media attention in December last year when he sent a letter to President Jacques Chirac to lift the ban on mercy killing so that he could kill himself.

His mother Marie Humbert, who has campaigned for her son's right to die, gave him the overdose on Wednesday -- three years to the day since the road accident that caused his injuries.

Agencies