Conjoined twins born to a Co Cork couple have travelled to London to begin preparations for their separation next month.
Hassan and Hussein Benhaffaf were born on 2 December at University College Hospital in London.
The twins left Cork this morning along with their parents Angie and Azzedine and their sisters Malika and Iman.
The operation is scheduled for 7 April at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.
The boys have been thriving since their birth and the operation to separate them will take place far sooner than had been expected.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has been liaising closely with the family since the birth of the twins and the family were flown by the Air Corps to the RAF airbase at Northolt in London.
A medical team drawn from the emergency department of Cork University Hospital was on board.
Also flying with the family was a nurse from the neo-natal intensive care team at Cork University Maternity Hospital, which has been closely involved in the twins' care to date.
Consultant paediatric surgeon Dr Edward Kiely, who will lead the medical team at Great Ormond Street, has said the doctors there are the most experienced in Europe in caring for conjoined twins.
Angie and Azzedine Benhaffaf have appealed to people to keep the twins in their thoughts at this critical time.
