The babies, who each had their own heart, arms and legs were born weighing 2lbs 6oz at a hospital in Rajkot, eastern India.
But doctors confirmed they only lived for six minutes following their birth at Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Government Medical College on Friday.
Despite knowing they were conjoined, medics were astonished by their appearance when they delivered the babies by a Caesarean section.
Dr Kirtan Vyas, 30, an assistant professor in the gynaecology ward of the hospital who operated on the mother, said medics knew they were unlikely to survive.
‘We were somewhat prepared for the death of the babies as the brain was fused and surgery to separate the brain is impossible,’ he said.
‘We had informed the family in advance of the severe complications.’
He added it was a rare case of gynaecology in India – perhaps one in a million.
‘This hospital has been going for 140 years and there have only been around three to four cases of conjoined twins.
‘But this case of conjoined twins was an even more shocking one. The babies were extremely rare looking.’
The mother, who has chosen to remain anonymous, had a smooth pregnancy until her first ultrasound at seven months.
There, she was given the devastating news about her babies.
It is believed they were cephalopagus Siamese twins, which meant they were born with their heads fused together but much of their bodies were separate.
The birth of this type of conjoined twins – who develop after a fertilized egg cell fails to divide fully – is extremely rare
Dr Vyas added that such a condition can normally be diagnosed within the first trimester of a woman’s pregnancy.
But the woman had not been for any check-ups during her pregnancy, which is normally the case in India due to severe poverty.
The mother was discharged from hospital yesterday and is said to be doing well.
She and her husband decided to donate the body of their twins to the government medical college for medical research.
The tragic birth is similar to one in 2014 when a baby with two heads was born to a mother in India where the infants died after 20 days.
Credit: Daily Mail
