Malian mother's nonuplets face months in incubators, says clinic

Nine babies born to a Malian woman will need to spend "two to three months" in incubators, a director of the clinic where they were born has said.

Professor Youssef Alaoui of the Ain Borja clinic in Casablanca, Morocco, told the AFP news agency that the case was "extremely rare" and "exceptional".

The mother, Halima Cissé, 25, and her nonuplets - five girls and four boys - are said to be doing well.

The babies weighed between 500g and 1kg (1.1lb and 2.2lb) when they were born.

Medical director Prof Alaoui said that Ms Cissé was 25 weeks pregnant when she was admitted and his team managed to extend her term to 30 weeks. Ten doctors and 25 paramedics assisted at the delivery.

As far as he was aware Ms Cissé had not used any fertility treatments, Prof Alaoui told the Associated Press.

He told BBC Arabic that she had been in a serious condition to begin with because of heavy bleeding, which was brought under control.

"The mother is now in a good condition she's not in danger any more. We wish her and the babies a speedy recovery," he said.