A baby girl born with a 'malformed' twin inside her stomach without a brain has successfully undergone emergency surgery 24 hours later to remove it.
The little girl has been called Itzamara by her parents, and was born on 22nd February in Columbia.
Her mum, Monica Vega, told local media that doctors in La Merced in the city of Barranquilla in the northern Colombian department of Atlantico detected something inside her baby's abdomen seven months into her pregnancy.
And according to Los Informantes, it was the baby girl's twin growing inside her tummy in its own amniotic sac, with an umbilical cord and arms and legs.
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The foetus did not have a brain or beating heart, local media reported.
The occurrence is known as a "foetus-in-foetu" birth, and was first described in 1808.
Doctor Miguel Parra said that similar occurrences have been detected after a baby was born, but he believes this is the first time that it has been diagnosed during pregnancy.
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Mum Monica told told local media: "I have never heard of anything like this in my entire life. I really did not expect this to happen."
Doctors made the decision to deliver the baby girl at 37 weeks so that the foetus inside couldn't grow any bigger.
They were worried if they didn't deliver early, the underdeveloped foetus could potentially affect the baby girl's internal organs.
The newborn was delivered successfully and is reportedly in a stable condition after undergoing surgery.
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It is thought that the situation occurs once in every 200,000 pregnancies, although some suggest it could be even rarer at 500,000.
If the embryo divides in the second week, the children will probably become conjoined. In this case, the embryo split after the 17th day.
The baby girl is currently recovering in hospital and is said to be in a healthy condition after the surgery.
Topics: Life News, Real, Health