Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh passes away

CHENNAI: Union minister and former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who has been battling liver cancer in a city hospital, died here on Tuesday afternoon. He was 67.

Having registered with the Tamil Nadu organ registry for a liver and a kidney, Vilasrao's case was cleared as a 'super ultra emergency'. He was to receive the organs from a 31-year-old man who was declared brain dead at the Government General Hospital, Chennai on Monday afternoon, but the prospective donor suffered a cardiac arrest in the early hours of Tuesday before his organs could be harvested. Two more set of organs were available by Tuesday morning, one from the General Hospital, Chennai, where a 20-year-old woman was declared brain dead, and another from Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai. But transplant surgeons at Global Hospitals found Vilasrao's condition was too unstable to undergo the procedure. "His condition was getting worse from early morning," said a treating doctor. "Though a transplant was the only option, the chances of his surviving the long and complex procedure looked bleak."

Vilasrao Deshmukh's health condition has been see-sawing since he was brought to Chennai last Tuesday by an air ambulance. On Saturday, doctors said his condition was stable. Since his other organs stood the risk of failing, and doctors had to prevent further infection, he was moved from the general ICU to an isolated unit on Saturday. The same day his name was registered with the TN organ registry which allots cadaver organs for transplant.

His actor son Riteish Deshmukh was registered with the authorities as a part-liver donor, but doctors said Vilasrao Deshmukh needed a full liver, which meant they had to get the organ from a brain-dead person. If a kidney was available, doctors said, they would transplant that too, since his kidneys had also failed.

A dual transplant looked likely on Monday after the family of the 31-year-old brain-dead man at Chennai GH agreed to donate his organs. A team of doctors from Global Hospitals reached GH, but because of some procedural delays, the organs could not be harvested. In the mean time, the prospective donor suffered a cardiac arrest, making it impossible for the doctors to retrieve and use the liver and kidney. On Tuesday, the transplant surgeons were presented with two opportunities of organs, from Mumbai and the Chennai GH, but before they could harvest the organs, Vilasrao Deshmukh's condition worsened by Tuesday afternoon and he breathed his last.

Cremation tomorrow
Union science and technology minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who passed away in Chennai this afternoon, will be cremated at his native Babhalgaon village in Latur district on Wednesday, family sources said.

The mortal remains of the departed leader will be brought to Latur tomorrow and kept at his house in Babhalgaon from 9 am to 3 pm for people to pay their last respects, his brother Dilip Deshmukh, said.

The funeral procession will start at 3 pm and last rites would be performed at 4 pm, he said.

Two dead, several hurt in Montreal bus accident

Police officers survey the scene where two people where killed in a collision between a bus and two cars in Montreal;Tuesday;August 14;2012. The accident between the city bus and two cars occurred late during rush hour at an intersection in an industrial park in the municipality of Dorval;near the Montreal airport.

DORVAL, Que. - Two people were killed in a violent collision that flipped a city bus onto its side and injured several other people Tuesday.

The accident between the city bus and two cars occurred late during rush hour at an intersection in an industrial park in the municipality of Dorval, near the Montreal airport.

Police said two people were declared dead on the scene - a woman passenger in a BMW, and someone who was ejected from the city bus. Two other people were seriously injured and at least a half-dozen others were slightly hurt.

The accident occurred at 6 p.m. A multitude of ambulances rushed to the scene, along with about a dozen other emergency vehicles. The road was closed off.

Those with serious injuries were whisked away to hospital. Police originally reported about 12 minor injuries and revised that number downward later.

The force of the crash flipped the bus over, onto the lawn of a commercial property.

Two smashed cars lay nearby. On one car, the impact was so hard that the engine block was pushed inside the vehicle.

"It was clearly a major impact," said Bob Lamle, spokesman for the city ambulance service.

"The vehicles have major frontal damage and the first car, the front end is almost cut off."

There were about 14 people riding on the bus.