London, March 28: French surgeons have carried out the world’s fifth face transplant, and given a 28-year-old man a new nose, mouth and chin after his original features were blown off in a shooting accident.

The surgery, which marked the third face transplant in France, took place at the Henri Mondor Hospital, near Paris.

Doctors at the hospital spent 15 hours giving the man a new face, after the accident had destroyed the muscles in the man''s mouth, which prevented him from moving his jaw.

The procedure started at 5pm on Thursday and ended at 8am on Friday, reports the Telegraph.

The paper further revealed that France was the first country in the world to remove a dead donor''s features and place them on someone else.

In late 2005, Isabelle Dinoire, now 42, underwent a 15-hour operation in Amiens, in the north of the country, after her original face was ripped to pieces by her pet dog.

Last year Pascal Coler, a 24-year-old from Paris, received a new face after suffering from Von Recklinghausen''s disease, also known as "Elephant Man" condition. (ANI)