4:22pm UK, Friday February 28, 2003

A 16-year-old Irish girl looks set to receive the world's first face transplant, it has been reported.

In an operation that will make medical history - and cross the boundaries of science fiction - the girl will receive the face of a dead donor.

180 surgeons surgery doctors hospital operation

Surgeons will 'deglove' face

Lena Marie Murphy suffered horrific facial injuries as a baby when her father's car exploded.

The operation, at London's Royal Free Hospital, will involve peeling away the face of a four-hour-old corpse.

It will then be grafted onto Lena's face, London's Evening Standard reported.

The operation has yet to be approved by a board of ethics, headed by Falklands War veteran Simon Weston, who himself suffered appalling facial injuries during the 1982 campaign.

If given the go-ahead, it is likely to take place within months, the paper reported.