SINGAPORE: An Indian student who was brutally gang-raped on a bus in New Delhi was “fighting for her life” after suffering a significant brain injury, the Singapore hospital treating her said on Friday.

“The patient is currently struggling against the odds, and fighting for her life,” Kelvin Loh, chief executive officer of Mount Elizabeth Hospital where she was airlifted to from India, said in a statement.

“Our medical team's investigations upon her arrival at the hospital yesterday showed that in addition to her prior cardiac arrest, she also had infection of her lungs and abdomen, as well as significant brain injury.”

When the unnamed victim was admitted to the hospital on Thursday, Loh said she had already undergone three abdominal surgeries and experienced a cardiac arrest in India prior to her flight.

She “continues to remain in an extremely critical condition” as of 0300 GMT Friday and was “still receiving treatment at the hospital's intensive care unit,” Loh added.

“A multi-disciplinary team of specialists has been working tirelessly to treat her since her arrival, and is doing everything possible to stabilise her condition over the next few days.”

The gang-rape has prompted widespread street protests in India, not only in revulsion at the savage nature of the attack but also because it tapped into simmering anger at the level of violence against women.