Conjoined twins from Cameroon successfully separated in France

LYON: One-year-old Cameroonian conjoined twins were successfully separated in a five-hour operation in France on Wednesday, the hospital said.

Sisters Bissie and Eyenga Merveille -- their family name is the French word for "marvel" -- were born in Cameroon on November 6, 2018, joined front-to-front and partly sharing a liver, the hospital said in a statement.

After the marathon separation in southeastern French city Lyon, which involved some 20 surgeons, doctors, and other medical experts, the girls were put into emergency care and said to be in a stable condition.

They were brought to France for the life-changing procedure by the charity organisation La Chaine de l´Espoir.

One of the girls has been diagnosed with a heart condition which will be operated on later, the charity said on its website.

Rejected by the girls´ father and members of her family, the twins´ mother Mayah fled her town of Ayos to Cameroon´s capital Yaounde some 140 kilometres (87 miles) away, where she and her daughters took refuge at a hospital where they lived awaiting the operation.