A 45 year old male patient presented with shock and abdominal mass to emergency medical Out Patient Department of the Police Force General Hospital in March 1996. This patient was diagnosed to have ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm and died shortly after admission. There have been, to our knowledge, no published data from Ethiopia regarding rupture of aortic aneurysm. We therefore present the first case. The clinical presentation, course and literature review will be presented.