The case was also historic for another reason as the 21-month-old heart patient ended up as the youngest recipient of a donor organ in the country.

The donor, three-year-old Tamanna, had met with a road accident in Bangalore on January 20 and was declared brain dead, and her father, who was injured, signed the papers for donating his daughter's organs from the hospital bed.

The boy, hailing from Ahmedabad, suffering from heart ailment was in 'bad shape'. His name was put on the Heart Registry and his parents had decided to go home when the call came from Bangalore, Dr K M Cherian, Director, Frontline Hospital at Mogappair here, said.

"We formed two teams to do this whole process. One team went to Bangalore (by flight) to harvest the heart from the girl and came back to Chennai and another team transplanted the heart on the boy in the hospital here", Dr Cherian said.

The recipient had a new heart in a procedure which lasted just two hours and 42 minutes. That was the time it took for harvesting, transporting and transplantation, he said. A team of nine doctors performed the heart transplant.

He said while inter-state transplantation had become common now, what was important in the case was that the father of the girl agreed to donate the organs.

"The operation was performed at 0500 hrs on Thursday", he said.

Tamanna and her parents Renilson and Nisha, both hailing from Kerala, were driving back home on Tuesday last when their car collided with a truck.

Renilson sustained multiple fractures and was recovering from surgery in Manipal Hospital. However, his wife died on the spot and his daughter was declared brain dead.

The donor had the universal blood group 'O' positive, which made things easier for the surgeons, Cherian said.

Tamanna's liver was also brought to Chennai for transplant on a two-and-a-half-year old child at the Chettinad Hospital, while a 60-year-old man received her kidneys at the Manipal Hospital.

"The entire operation would not have been possible but for the cooperation of the Chennai police and co-ordination between the transplant teams of both hospitals", Cherian said.

Sunil Kumar, Additional Commissioner (Traffic) said steps were taken to keep the road free so that the donor's heart reached the hospital from the airport as quickly as possible.