Bhubaneswar, Nov 6 (PTI) A 40-year-old woman died of swine flu in Orissa, becoming the first victim of H1N1 virus in the state, health officials said today.

Panchali Pradhan from Angul district, who was first admitted to a hospital in Angul and later shifted to a private hospital in the city, died on Wednesday night, a doctor at the private hospital said.

This was the first confirmed death of swine flu in Orissa. Earlier, a doctor from the state had succumbed to the infection at AIIMS, New Delhi.

A health department official said altogether 16 persons had been tested positive to the H1N1 virus, out of 72 swab samples examined so far.