In this photograph taken on November 12, 2015, Bangladeshi conjoined twins receive medical care at a hospital in Brahmanbaria, some 120 kms east of Dhaka. Conjoined twin girls have died in Bangladesh less than a week after they were born, the hospital treating them said November 16. AFP PHOTO / STR / FILES
DHAKA, Bangladesh 鈥� Conjoined twin girls have died in聽Bangladesh聽less than a week after they were born, the hospital treating them said Monday.
Thousands of people had flocked to visit the twins, who were born with two heads and two hearts but just one body, after news spread of the 鈥渕iracle newborn鈥� last week.
They were taken into intensive care at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh鈥檚 biggest public hospital, which set up a team of specialists to treat them.
But the head of the intensive care unit said they died late on Sunday after apparently suffering from heart failure.
鈥淪he was not in a stable condition since she was born. She died before we could intervene,鈥� said Abid Hossian Molla.
鈥淪he was a rare conjoined twins with two heads. She had two hands and two legs like any normal baby, but inside she had two hearts, two sets of lungs and shared pelvic organs.鈥�
The twins鈥� father Jamal Mia said he had buried her at a public graveyard in Dhaka.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 afford to hire an ambulance to take her back home. So the doctors gave me some money to bury her in聽Dhaka,鈥� Mia said.
鈥淚 feel sad for her as we could not do much to save her.鈥�
Mia said he had not yet told his wife of the twins鈥� death because she was still 鈥渧ery sick鈥� after giving birth by cesarean section.
Conjoined siblings are identical twins who in rare cases are born with their skin and internal organs fused together, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center website.
About half are stillborn, and the survival rate is between five and 25 percent.
They develop from a single egg, which splits in the case of healthy twins, but not fully in the case of conjoined siblings.