In an unbelievable and weird-of-its-kind incident in Pakistan, doctors at a hospital in Sadiqabad operated on a 10-month-old girl to remove an abdominal tumor and ascites but were astonished to discover it was actually the girl’s twin inside her belly, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Sunday.

The girl was brought to the hospital for the treatment of abdominal pain, the hospital administration said, adding that the ultrasound scanning showed an abdominal tumor and ascites in her body.

“When the operation was started, everything was normal. After two hours, when the tumor was removed from the girl’s belly, a surprising fact came to light. The tumor coming out of the girl’s belly was actually a foetus,” Mushtaq Ahmed, a pediatric surgeon who operated on the girl, said.

The father said that the girl had started experiencing abdominal pain shortly after her birth, adding that she underwent several treatments and finally a tumor was detected in the abdominal part of her body in the ultrasound scanning.

“Such an incident occurs with one in a million people. This process is actually of twins in which one child develops in the mother’s womb while the other develops inside the belly of the fetus,” the pediatric surgeon said.

“The first case came to light in 1945 and so far, 100 cases have been reported in different countries. After the successful operation, the girl’s condition is out of danger. A sample has been sent to the laboratory for further tests. The operation was very complicated. The first priority was to save the girl’s life. Allah gave us success,” he added.

One such incident was reported in India in 2017 in which the medics operating to remove a tumour from a baby were astonished to discover it was actually the child’s twin inside his tummy.

Reporter: Malik Javed Anwar