PARIS: A Frenchman who underwent the world's first face and double-hand transplant in April after being horribly disfigured in an accident has died, hospital officials said yesterday.

The 30-year-old man died of cardiac arrest while undergoing a follow-up operation on June 8, according to Laurent Lantieri, the surgeon who performed the groundbreaking transplant near Paris.

"He developed a facial infection a few weeks after his operation, and during an operation to try to tackle the infection he suffered cardiac arrest," Lantieri told RTL radio.