Doctors Performed Miracle to Bangladeshi Twins

  The conjoined Bangladeshi newborn twins  have been successfully separated.

  "My babies are alive and doing well. It's the best news I've ever got in my life," a tearful mother of the twins Lovely Mollick told the reporters in a telephone interview from her home in Khulna district, 85 miles (137 kilometers) southwest of Dhaka.

  The twins, who turn 3 next month, had been joined at the top of their heads and shared brain tissue and blood vessels. They were separated Tuesday after 25 hours of delicate surgery in a hospital in Melbourne and then underwent an additional six hours of reconstructive work.

  The charity that brought Trishna and Krishna to Australia two years ago for the surgery, Children First Foundation, will continue to support the twins as they undergo further medical treatment in Australia for at least the next two years, chief executive Margaret Smith said Friday.

  Trishna awoke from a medically induced coma Thursday. Officials announced Saturday that Krishna woke late Friday and was progressing well.

  Their 23-year-old mother said she made the heartbreaking decision to give up her daughters to a Dhaka orphanage after giving birth by cesarean section because she could not properly care for their special needs.

   Doctors had earlier said there was a 50-50 chance that one of the girls could suffer brain damage from the complicated separation.

  The foundation raised almost 250,000 Australian dollars ($229,000) for the cost of caring for the twins in between numerous earlier surgeries to separate blood vessels connecting their brains. A mystery benefactor funded all hospital costs, Smith said.

  The Associated Press has contributed to the report.