Surgery to part twins going well

MELBOURNE - The medical team attempting to separate conjoined 3-year-old Bangladeshi twins Trishna and Krishna was last night happy with progress.

The head of surgery at Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital, Leo Donnan, said the chances of the twins pulling through successfully were still only 25 per cent. He said it might also be weeks before the girls got the all-clear but the first couple of days after the surgery last night would be crucial.

"Separation is still some way off. It's a long process of dividing the girls' brains so that they have their own tissue and their own identity.

"The girls' brain is going to be separated and then there is work that needs to be done on the bony structures around the brain.

"Then the girls will be physically separated at that point."

The groundbreaking bid to save the girls comes two years after the orphans arrived in Australia.

- AAP