University of Michigan officials said Wednesday that organ transplant surgeries were not being suspended following a plane crash two days earlier that killed six members of a Survival Flight team.

But an organization that works closely with the transplant unit said the hospital may not perform any new lung transplants until later this week.

"They informed us they would prefer not to do any lung transplants until Thursday, with the exception of the candidate who did not get a lung transplant on Monday," said Tom Beyersdorf, Gift of Life of Michigan's executive director.

The patient was awaiting a double lung transplant. He was put back on the waiting list for replacement organs Tuesday and was in critical condition Wednesday, hospital officials said.

Gift of Life does blood work on donor organs and analysis for compatibility with transplant recipients in the state of Michigan. Its sister organization in Wisconsin was in contact with the University of Michigan on Monday's aborted organ transplant.

The University of Michigan is one of nine hospitals in the state with organ transplant teams.

The 125-member University of Michigan team includes surgeons, perfusionists, nurses and transplant coordinators.

However, it's now down to only one full-time perfusionist after Richard Chenault II and Richard LaPensee were killed Monday.

"We're not suspending any transplant surgeries," hospital spokeswoman Krista Hopson said Wednesday. "If there was an organ that became available and matched one of our patients, we would have absolutely moved forward with that surgery."

Despite losing the two perfusionists and surgeons David Ashburn and Martinus Spoor, the University of Michigan team still is more than capable of continuing to save lives, said Bill Morris, executive director of transplant services at the University of Pittsburgh.

"It's a tremendous loss, but that's not to say the University of Michigan can't do a transplant today," Morris said. "They could have done one Tuesday night."

Morris was one of several dozen people to leave condolences on the Internet following the Survival Flight crash.

Morris said perfusionists are critical to organ transplant teams because of their expertise in preserving donated organs and caring for them during transport.

Until those positions are refilled, the roles of perfusionists can be filled by transplant surgeons, he said.

Beyersdorf said his organization's perfusionist is available. He added that trained part-time perfusionists also could include surgical technicians and physician assistants.

Gift of Life of Michigan received 11 organ donation referrals in a 12-hour period Tuesday night following news reports about the downed plane and impact on the organ transplant recipient who is back on a waiting list, he said.

"Typically the referrals are of someone who (may die) in the next few hours or days," Beyersdorf said. "Most are not medically suitable. We're in the process of evaluating those 11. Typically, if we have 11 there are usually two or three potential donors."