24 hrs and counting

Updated On: 17 November, 2009 08:19 AM IST | | Khalid A-H Ansari

Marathon surgery on Bangladeshi conjoined twins continues in Melbourne, the first such procedure in Australia

Marathon surgery on Bangladeshi conjoined twins continues in Melbourne, the first such procedure in Australiau00a0

As people the world over anxiously awaited the outcome and the Pope lead an international prayer vigil at the Vatican, amazing surgery continued at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital for the second day this morning to separate Bangladeshi twins Trishna and Krishna, who are conjoined at the head.

"It's going very well," anaesthetist Dr Ian McKenzie told reporters outside Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital at MiD DAY press-time this morning, 27 hours after the procedure commenced yesterday.

"Basically the kids are going very well, the team's going very well... and they're not separated just yet. It's very fiddly."

Dr McKenzie would not put a time frame on when the twins (they will be three next month) would be separated after their groundbreaking operation began about 8.30am (AEDT) yesterday. Regular bulletins were released by doctors and hospital authorities for viewers of national television breakfast shows this morning.

Australian politicians across the spectrum sent messages of good wishes even as nuns in Dhaka, where the twins were placed by their mother, organised a day of prayer.

In Melbourne, the twin's legal guardian Moira Kelly gave them an emotional goodbye kiss and attended church yesterday along with surgeons battling to save their lives. Their joint guardian Atom Rahmon, who found them in the orphanage 2 u00bd years ago, also waited nervously.