Posted on 07/10/2003 6:38:42 AM PDT by bedolido
The bodies of the conjoined twins who died after an operation to separate them in Singapore have arrived home in Iran.
Close friends of Laleh and Ladan Bijani were at the airport in Tehran to meet the coffins.
A Muslim cleric said prayers over the bodies and a police band played a funeral march.
The sisters will be buried on Friday in the village where the sisters were born near the city of Shiraz.
The 29-year-old twins were warned by doctors they had only a 50-50 chance of surviving.
But they decided to accept the risk in the hope they would be able to lead independent lives.
Their coffins were flown to Iran from Singapore, where surgeons battled for 50 hours to separate the pair.
Ladan and Laleh died on Tuesday, 90 minutes apart, from a severe loss of blood.
Medical staff were visibly upset when they announced their deaths.
Around 300 mourners, many weeping, attended a memorial service for the pair at Singapore Ba'alwi mosque on Wednesday night.
Last Updated: 13:41 UK, Thursday July 10, 2003
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