'We just wanted to look each other in the face'

From the moment they opened their eyes, as one of them poignantly put it, the Bijani twins wanted to lead separate lives. Today they both died trying.

Though joined at the skull the Iranian sisters could not have been more different.

Ladan was outgoing, Laleh more introvert. Ladan wanted to be a lawyer, her sister a journalist.

Though they lived 29 years in as full a manner as possible for two people who could never leave each other's side, they failed in their ultimate ambition.

"We want to look each other in the face," said Laleh. "Without a mirror," added Ladan.

It was a dream that had long brought pain and tears.

One friend from their home city of Tehran recalled the pair, aged eight, trying to walk in opposite directions. "They cried because of the pain it caused," said the friend.

The sisters were born into a poor family of 11 children in Firouzabad, southern Iran. But they were raised by doctors in the capital, Tehran, their every move followed by the Iranian media and a fascinated public.

Childhood brought more than the usual number of cuts and scrapes as they constantly fell over while playing. Their different interests brought conflict from an early age.

Ladan was talkative and enjoyed cooking, which Laleh, known as a quiet thinker, didn't. Instead she loved animals, which Ladan preferred to avoid. Last month, at a press conference-the sisters explained their overwhelming need to be separated, whatever the risks it might entail.

"We have different ideas about our lives," Laleh said. Ladan interrupted, laughing: "Actually, we are opposites. When we first opened our eyes to see the light, we wanted to be separated."

Such close attachment had some advantages. They cheated in school tests by whispering the answers to each other and the Iranian authorities concluded it would be nearly impossible for the sisters to compete individually in university entrance exams.

In the end it granted them a joint scholarship to study law at Tehran University in 1994. This entailed Laleh sacrificing her dream of becoming a journalist so that Ladan could fulfill her ambition to be a lawyer.

Their hopes rose after hearing Dr Keith Goh in Singapore had led a team that successfully separated 18- month- old Nepalese twins who had been joined at the head.

Bursting with hope Ladan wrote last month: "Our best days began after our arrival in Singapore in November.

We are writing our memoirs every day and are impatiently waiting for the big day to come."

Singapore's small Iranian community quickly became a surrogate family for the twins and they began studying English. Bahar Niko, a teacher who became a confidante to the sisters, said the twins loved shopping for cosmetics and clothes.

"They didn't feel embarrassed at all about going out," Niko said. "In fact they feel very proud. They do not want people to feel sorry for them."

Asked last year if one of them was ready to die to give the other independence, Laleh said: "We have waited (so long) because we didn't want to choose such a difficult option."

The twins were told they stood only a 50-50 chance of survival, but were willing to press ahead if it meant fulfilling their dream. "We are prepared to embrace the risks," they said.

Unforeseen complications added about 17 hours to the operating time, originally estimated at 48 hours.

A spokesman for the Raffles Hospital said doctors had done all they could to save the women - but had been faced by insurmountable complications.

"As doctors we know that there is only so much we can do and the rest we have to leave to the Almighty. I hope we can remember them laughing and smiling as they were before the surgery started," he said.

Ladan and Laleh had planned to move back to Iran and live in an apartment together while pursuing different careers. Now they will never get the chance.