Gangrape victim's body to reach India around midnight

The body of the 23-year-old victim of brutal gangrape and assault in Delhi is likely to be flown to India around midnight, hours after she died at a Singapore super specialty hospital.

The girl, who was shifted to Singapore on December 27 from the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, breathed her last at 4.45 am (2.15 am IST), Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital, where she was being treated, said in a statement.

Indian High Commission sources said the body will be flown back in a chartered Air India plane that would take off around midnight local time (9.30 pm IST).

On the chartered plane, sent by the Indian government, would be her family members who have been in Singapore since the girl was brought to the hospital in an extremely critical condition.

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The victim, who underwent three surgeries at Safdarjung Hospital, was gangraped and brutally assaulted on December 16 by six men in a moving bus in Delhi. The assault had damaged her internal organs. She also suffered a cardiac arrest and brain injury.

"We are very sad to report that the patient passed away peacefully at 4.45 am on 29 December 2012 (Singapore time)," the Singapore hospital's Chief Executive Officer Dr Kelvin Loh said in a statement.

"Her family and officials from the High Commission of India were by her side. The Mount Elizabeth Hospital team of doctors, nurses and staff join her family in mourning her loss," the statement said.

Indian High Commissioner T C A Raghavan said the girl, who was conscious, fought a brave battle till the end.

He said the final few hours was a trying time for the girl's family and they bore the entire process with a great deal of fortitude and courage.

Raghavan said the family has requested that their privacy be respected in their hour of grief.

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