WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dr. Peter Safar, credited with inventing the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation technique, has died, the American Heart Association (news - web sites) said on Monday. He was 79.

Safar died on Sunday, the association said in a statement. It did not give a cause of death.

"Safar's pioneering efforts and accomplishments in emergency and critical care medicine, resuscitation, life-saving first aid and disaster triage have saved countless lives and gained international recognition," it said.

"In the late 1950s, Safar proposed the A-B-C (airway, breathing, circulation) sequence of resuscitation, including the technique of 'mouth-to-mouth' rescue breathing."

The Vienna, Austria-born Safar helped...