Delhi gang rape victim arrives in Singapore hospital

The victim is being treated at a specialised facility in Singapore

A female student who was gang-raped on a bus in India's capital Delhi has arrived in Singapore for further treatment, officials say.

The 23-year-old victim - who remains on life support - is being treated at a specialised facility and may require an organ transplant.

The attack earlier this month triggered violent public protests, which left one police officer dead.

An inquiry into possible lapses by the authorities is now under way.

The investigation is being led by retired judge Usha Mehra.

Six men have been arrested and two police officers have been suspended following the 16 December attack.

An air ambulance carrying the woman landed at Singapore Changi International Airport early on Thursday, the Indian High Commission in Singapore told news agencies.

The victim - who has already had three operations in Delhi - was then taken to the city's Mount Elizabeth hospital.

The hospital said in a statement quoted by the Associated Press that she was admitted to the intensive care unit "in an extremely critical condition".

"She is being examined and the hospital is working with the Indian High Commission," the statement said.

'Prolonged treatment'

Senior Delhi doctor BD Athani told the Press Trust of India that the hospital had "a state-of-art multi-organ transplant facility" to treat the victim's severe intestinal injuries.

The woman's family have accompanied her to Singapore because the treatment might take a long time, Dr Athani added.

Police in Delhi have opened roads and metro stations shut since Monday as protests against the incident eased.

The government has tried to halt the rising anger by announcing a series of measures intended to make Delhi safer for women.

These include more police night patrols, checks on bus drivers and their assistants, and the banning of buses with tinted windows or curtains.

The government has also said that it will post the photos, names and addresses of convicted rapists on official websites to shame them.

But the protesters say the government's pledge to seek life sentences for the attackers is not enough - many are calling for the death penalty.

The victim and her friend had been to see a film when they boarded the bus in the Munirka area, intending to travel to Dwarka in south-west Delhi.

Police said she was raped for nearly an hour, and both she and her companion were beaten with iron bars and thrown out of the moving bus into a Delhi street.