A 45-year-old Afghan woman, Najmeh Wahedian, gave birth to conjoined twin boys sharing a single torso at a hospital in Mashhad, northwestern Iran, on 26 August 2004. The twins were delivered by caesarean section and weighed 4.3 kilograms.
Physicians at Ghaem Hospital said the infants, placed in intensive care and dependent on supplemental oxygen, possess two separate brains, two hearts, and two spinal cords. Each brain controls one side of the shared body. A doctor on the intensive care ward noted that survival odds were low, citing excessive strain on the heart as the central concern.
The babies had not yet been assigned a name. They are reported to be the eighth and ninth children born to the mother. Hospital staff said the ward had been overwhelmed with inquiries and visitors following the birth.
The case drew comparisons to the 2003 deaths of Ladan and Laleh Bijani, Iranian twins conjoined at the head who died during a separation procedure in Singapore.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in August 2004, in its own words.