“The doctors saved her life. I thank them,” Nematullah told AFP.
Doctors believe Asree’s birth defect is caused when a baby, in this case Asree’s potential triplet, does not develop correctly in utero, according to the BBC.
While not officially confirmed, this case appears similar to a rare condition called craniopagus parasiticus, in which an underdeveloped twin is attached to its fully-formed counterpart. One of the most famous examples of craniopagus parasiticus was Egyptian Manar Maged, who had the head of her twin removed in 2005 when she was 10 months old, reported The Telegraph. While that operation was initially successful, the girl developed a severe brain infectionand died about a year after the surgery.