Image caption Licitra was seen by many as one of the greatest natural tenor talents of his generation

Italian tenor Salvatore Licitra has died from head and chest injuries suffered in a road accident.

The 43-year-old - who was seen as the heir to Luciano Pavarotti in Italy - crashed his scooter into a wall in southern Sicily last month.

He was not wearing a helmet when he crashed in the town of Modica.

The singer made his international breakthrough in 2002, when he stepped in for Pavarotti in Puccini's Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Licitra died on Monday morning in the hospital in Catania, where he had been flown after the accident on 27 August, a statement on the the Swiss-born singer's website said.

He had been in a coma since the crash and never regained consciousness.

Doctors at the hospital said Licitra's family had agreed to make his organs available for transplant.

They said that a news conference would be held later on Tuesday.