Bodies of Iranian twins arrive in Tehran

Iranian twins Ladan and Laleh Bijani, joined in life, arrived in their homeland in two coffins yesterday, achieving their dream of separation only in death.

Only around a dozen close friends and neither their natural nor adoptive parents were at the airport to meet the coffins, which were draped in a traditional Iranian nomadic red-patterned cloth with a bouquet of white flowers tied with a black ribbon.

"They were tired of being joined together," said Nooshin Mehran, who described herself as the twins' best friend. "Now they are dead their biggest wish has come true. I don't regret not trying to change their minds."

A Muslim cleric said prayers over the coffins. A police band played a funeral march as the bodies were taken by ambulance to the coroner's office for a death certificate before being flown to southern Iran for burial.

The funeral is to take place today in the village where the sisters were born near the city of Shiraz.

"We didn't want to welcome them home this way," said Maryam Nofarsti with her twin sister Leyla, childhood friends of Laleh and Ladan. "It was very difficult for them, that's why they chose between life and death."

Ladan and Laleh died on Tuesday, 90 minutes apart, from severe blood loss in the final stages of a marathon operation to separate their joined brains that began on Sunday.

The two women were joined at the head, something that only occurs once in every two million live births. A separation operation had never been tried on adults.

President Mohammad Khatami sent a message of condolence. "Surrendering to divine fate is a sign of strong faith, profound knowledge and stable will. What happened to Laleh and Ladan is one page in the great book of destiny," he said.