KIEV, Sept 24: Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, a leading candidate in Ukraine's presidential election, was taken to hospital on Friday after a protester threw an egg at him in nationalist western Ukraine, reporters said.

The incident underscored the fever pitch in the Oct 31 contest pitting Yanukovich, current President Leonid Kuchma's chosen successor, against liberal challenger Viktor Yushchenko.

A government spokeswoman, speaking from the town of Ivano-Frankivsk, said the prime minister remained in hospital. "Something heavy was hurled from the crowd.

The prime minister fell," Hanna Herman said. "Doctors are not allowing him to stand, but his life is not in danger. The man who threw the object has been caught."

Ukrainian news agencies and witnesses said the protester hurled an egg at Yanukovich as he got off a bus during a visit to the region, which has long voted for liberal and nationalist candidates.

Herman said protesters in the town had chanted Yushchenko's name, "behaved aggressively and forced the prime minister's bodyguards to defend him". -Reuters