Separated Uzbek Twin Said To Have Died

November 21, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- One of two Siamese twins who were separated in a landmark operation in Tashkent recently has died, according to the boys' grandmother.

The woman told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service that 4-month-old Hasan Kamiljanov, who was separated from his brother Husan on November 11, died on November 19 and was buried the next day.

But the director of the hospital where the operation took place, Yury Kalich, told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service today that both babies were fine.

Uzbek media broke their silence on the delicate operation on November 18, with Health Minister Feruz Nozirov calling it "a success."

The boys were born joined at the belly and had a common liver. It took Uzbek and Russian surgeons 16 hours to separate them at Vakhidov Republican Surgical Center in the first such operation to be attempted in Uzbekistan.