ROME – World renowned writer Andrea Camilleri remains on a life-support machine at the Santo Spirito hospital after a heart-attack Monday morning, according to hospital sources. His condition remains critical but stable according to Dr Robert Ricci. 

 "Obviously he is not conscious," said Dr Ricci in a statement Tuesday. He went on to explain that the heart-attack seems to have been caused by a sudden drop in blood pressure. 

 A statement from the hospital at 17:00 Monday, some seven hours after the 93-year-old was admitted, had said: “The writer arrived after a cardiac arrest. He was resuscitated in the emergency room, which enabled the restoration of cardio-circulatory activity. Camilleri is in intensive care with mechanical respiratory support and medicine.”

 Messages of support have poured in on all forms of social media. Camilleri, from Porto Empedocle in Sicily, first achieved success with bestselling novel “The Hunting Season” (1992), but really came to fame for the Monalbano series later in life. Books about Inspector Montalbano, one of Italy's most-loved fictional characters, have sold in their millions, been adapted to television and radio, and inspired spin-offs like RAI's The Young Montalbano. 

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