Indonesian doctors separate conjoined twins from tsunami-hit Aceh province

MEDAN, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesian surgeons on Tuesday successfully separated 11-month-old girls who were joined at the chest and stomach. The girls, Mariana and Mariani, were in "good condition," said Dessy, a nurse who helped with the six-hour operation in the north Sumatran capital, Medan. Dessy, who like many Indonesians uses one name, declined to give other details.

The girls' parents prayed with surgeons before the operation.

The twins were fused at the chest and stomach, and shared a liver and a pericardium, the sac-like structure encasing the heart, Dr. Alwin Syahabidin said.

The twins were infants when the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami hit Aceh on Dec. 26, 2004, killing some 131,000 people in the province on the northern tip of Sumatra Island. However, the girls are from east Aceh province, which escaped the devastation.

© The Canadian Press, 2005