PINOCHET

SANTIAGO (Reuters):

Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet suffered a heart attack yesterday and underwent an emergency bypass, but doctors said he was still seriously ill and media reports said he would need a second operation.

Local media reported Pinochet would have the second operation late yesterday. No one from the Santiago hospital where the 91-year-old was being treated was available to comment on the reports.

Pinochet, who stands accused of human rights abuses and corruption from his iron-fisted rule of Chile from 1973 to 1990, was rushed to a hospital in the capital Santiago at about 2:00 a.m. (0500 GMT).

He was given the Roman Catholic last rites - traditionally administered by a priest to the dying - before surgeons operated on him to unblock clogged arteries.

Update

Shortly after 9:00 a.m. (1200 GMT), a doctor emerged from the hospital and told reporters the retired general was seriously ill, but stable, conscious and breathing without assistance.

The hospital said it would not give a further update on Pinochet's state of health until 7:00 p.m. (2200 GMT). Local radio station BioBio said doctors would perform the second operation on Pinochet yesterday afternoon, starting at 3:00 p.m. (1800 GMT).

Pinochet's relatives and friends rushed to his bedside. His former personal secretary Monica Ananias was in tears as she arrived at the clinic.

A group of around 50 Pinochet supporters gathered outside the hospital, waving photos of him. One held a large red, white and blue Chilean flag. Others wept and chanted his name.

"If I could, I would give a bit of my own life to the general to allow him to keep going," a woman told reporters as tears rolled down her cheeks.