VIENNA (AFP) ??” Austrian President Thomas Klestil.

VIENNA (AFP) ??” Austrian President Thomas Klestil, in an artificially induced coma after suffering a heart attack early Monday, was in increasingly critical condition as he battled for life.

Doctors said he had meet withed multiple organ failure and Dr Christoph Zielinski of the AKH hospital in Vienna, who heads a team of six physicians looking after Klestil, 71 said his fate could be decided during the day.

"The situation could not be more dramatic," Zielinski added. "His chances of survival are dwindling."

According to Dr Michael Zimpfer, head of the intensive treatment service at the hospital: "The chances of survival are 50 percent"

"At the expiration of the morning we noted a clear deterioration in (the president's) general health and we have to anticipate a generalized failure," said Dr Reinhard Kepler senior doctor at the hospital.

"Blood samples indicate that the (patient's) heart, lung liver and kidneys are failing," according