A woman has given birth to conjoined twins with a single pair of legs at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan. Despite defying the odds to be born alive, the twins died 24 hours later due to breathing complications.

Sonam Mandal, wife of Chandra Narayan Mandal, of Inaruwa-8 was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday. Doctors carried out an operation on her and were shocked to see the baby's physical shape. The babies had two separate heads, conjoined torso with four hands and two legs. The babies shared the same pair of legs and genitals.

Dr Surya Prasad Rimal, involved in the operation, said there was breathing complications on one of the heads. "We said the Mandal couple that we have to insert a pipe to make breathing easier. They refused and instead asked the baby be discharged so that they could take it home," said Dr Rimal.

A nurse at the hospital said Mandal couple had checked the baby's condition in a local clinic at Itahari for more than four times but were never told about its abnormal shape. They were told that the baby was in a good shape.