New Delhi, May 23 (PTI) A heart harvested from a patient in Tamil Nadu's Madurai was tonight transported through a "green corridor", created from the Delhi airport to a city hospital, in 13 minutes, officials said.

The heart had to be transplanted in a 45-year-old man, they added.

The organ was first flown in from Madurai to the Delhi airport in a chartered plane and later taken to the hospital by road, Delhi Police officials said.

"A green corridor was today provided from T1 - Delhi's domestic airport to the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital for transportation of a heart. The total distance of 11 km was covered in 13 minutes," a senior official said.

SGR Hospital authorities said the operation was "still underway".

"We received the heart at about 8:30 pm. The recipient is a 45-year-old male and a resident of Delhi. He is suffering from end-stage heart failure. The surgery is being done by team led by the director of the heart transplantation programme, Dr Sujay Shad," a senior official of SGRH told PTI.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)