Surgery begins for Peru's 'little mermaid'

Surgeons began a delicate operation on Peru's bright-eyed "little mermaid" - a baby girl born with legs fused from her thighs to her ankles. The surgery was the first of three planned operations planned to repair her rare birth defect.

National and international reporters assembled on a third floor mezzanine at Solidarity Hospital in Lima to watch television monitors as the surgery began in a small operating room on the first floor.

The surgery for 13-month-old Milagros Cerron was expected to last four to six hours.