French undersea explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who died Wednesday, June 25, succumbed to a heart attack at his Paris home, his widow Francine said. She said that 87-year-old Cousteau, who unveiled the mysteries of the deep to generations of television viewers and readers around the globe, had been suffering from a lung infection and had developed complications.

Cousteau opened up the mysteries of the deep to millions of viewers around the world. His voyages aboard his ship the Calypso were the subject of more than 100 films for television and the big screen as well as best selling books. Co-inventor of the aqua-lung, he also pioneered the first underwater habitats in the 1960s.

As international tributes flooded in for the man who has "returned to the silent world", people on the streets of Paris were coming to terms with the loss of one of France's most popular figures. France paid homage to Cousteau on Monday. Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was filled with thousands of mourners, including President Jacques Chirac.

The Frenchman captured the heart of millions of television viewers around the world, with his programmes revealing the wonders of the ocean world. He was widely known for his television series, "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau," and his many documentaries.

Cousteau's widow and his children attended the ceremony.

Chirac marched past a guard of honour before taking his place at the front of the cathedral for a service led by the Archbishop of Paris, Jean-Marie Lustiger.

Cousteau's coffin was carried into the cathedral by a guard of French marines.

The explorer will buried on Thursday in his home village of Saint-Andre-de-Cubzac, near the southwestern city of Bordeaux.