Thousands Attend Burial for Iran’s Separated Twins

A cleric said prayers over the bodies of Ladan and Laleh Bijani, conjoined twins who died last week in separation surgery, before they were buried in separate graves Saturday as thousands of mourners wept.

About 20,000 people attended the burial ceremony, held in the Iranian twins’ home village.

Notes in Persian and English, attached to flowers on the coffins, read: “Separated. Rest in peace.” One family member fainted during the funeral.

People came from towns and villages across the region, and a nearly two-mile convoy of vehicles packed the road from nearby Firouzabad to Lohrasb in southwestern Iran as the coffins were taken to the burial site.

The 29-year-old sisters, who were joined at the top of their heads, died Tuesday in Singapore, where they underwent an operation that lasted more than two days.

They died within 90 minutes of each other after surgeons separated their heads but failed to control bleeding.

The sisters had captivated the nation with their bravery and charm, and the admiration grew when it was revealed that they left all their property to blind children and orphans.

They left Iran seven months ago to prepare for the operation, insistent on the surgery despite the risks.

It was the first attempt to separate craniopagus twins, born joined at the head, who are adults. But the surgery has been performed successfully since 1952 on infants, whose brains are considered more malleable than those of adults.