Woman gives birth to six babies

A woman gave birth to sextuplets, two boys and four girls, around four months early in a Chittagong city hospital yesterday morning among whom two were stillborn and two died shortly afterwards.

The surviving boy and girl are in Chittagong Medical College Hospital while Rafia Anwara, 25, who gave birth to a girl three years ago, is recovering.

The babies, ranging in weight from 500 to 600 grammes, were delivered at Jameson Red Crescent Maternity Hospital in Anderkilla area within a span of 15 minutes.

"Rafia did not go for regular checkups and ultrasonography. So no one knew about the number of babies. It was a five-month pregnancy but the woman's belly was unusually large," said Chief Medical Officer Rosy Dutta.

"It would have been great if all the babies survived," Rafia's father-in-law Shahab Mia told The Daily Star. Rafia is married to Md Yakub of Fatikchhari who lives in Abu Dhabi.