Union minister Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who was undergoing treatment for a serious liver ailment, died at a city hospital onTuesday.

The end came early this afternoon a week after Deshmukh, 67, the Science and Technology Minister, was hospitalised here in a critical condition, even as attempts were being made to find a donor for his liver transplant.

An attempt to harvest liver from a brain dead donor from a government hospital here last night failed as the man died before doctors could operate on him, hospital sources said.

A team from Global Hospitals, where Deshmukh was admitted on August 6, had planned to retrieve the liver from the 31-year-old donor at the hospital, but he died, forcing them to look for another donor, the sources said.

Following this, the hospital said they were looking for a liver donor.

The former Maharashtra Chief Minister had shown signs of improvement and been on and off the ventilator before being prepared for a transplant.

Deshmukh was brought here from Mumbai in an air ambulance in a critical condition and was under the care of a team of different specialists.