THE conjoined twins born in the Eastern Cape last week have died with the family of the two girls left devastated by the news.

Weighing 4kg at birth, the twins were born by Caesarean section at Malizo Mpehle Memorial Hospital in Tsolo last Wednesday.

They were immediately transferred to the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha.

The next day they were flown to the Red Cross Children's Hospital in Cape Town, with surgery planned for that same day.

Western Cape Health spokeswoman Faiza Steyn said yesterday: "Unfortunately they had a major heart abnormality which made the separation impossible. Their condition was lethal."

Steyn said the girls shared a heart and liver, with the heart being very weak. This made it harder for the twins to breathe.

"Because they shared these essential organs, the chance of them surviving was very minimal," Steyn said.

The girls were thoraco-omphalopagus twins, which occurs when two bodies are fused together from the upper chest to the lower chest.

Steyn said the girls' death had been heartbreaking because they seemed comfortable when they first arrived in the Western Cape.

The twins' father, Malokwana Mandla, who was not present when they flew to Cape Town, said yesterday he was devastated by their death because he had never seen them. Mandla said his wife was still extremely upset over the loss of her children.