Successful surgery for Little Mermaid

Doctors fully separated the fused legs of a baby girl known as Peru's "little mermaid" yesterday, calling the delicate procedure a "true success".

Doctors performing the 4 1/2 hour surgery had planned to begin repairing the birth defect only up to the child's knees, but the procedure exceeded the expectations of the medical team.

"This is the final result that we have come to in this extraordinary surgical intervention," said Dr Luis Rubio, holding up 13-month-old Milagros Cerron's legs in a V-shape, displaying the line of stitches extending up from her heels to her inner thighs.

"We have mobility of the independent knee joints." Milagros's legs had been fused together from her thighs to her ankles when she was born.

"This surgical intervention has been a true success," Rubio said.

Hours before the surgery, Milagros, whose name means "miracles", giggled and played on her hospital bed while Rubio, leader of a team of 11 surgeons performing the operation, looked on.

Milagros was born with a rare congenital defect known as sirenomelia, or "mermaid syndrome".

There are only three known cases of children with the affliction alive in the world today, according to Rubio.

The surgery was televised live and was watched by the child's parents.

Milagros's father, Ricardo Cerron, 24, broke into tears as Rubio made the first incision at the start of the surgery. The baby's mother, Sara Arauco, 20, put her hand to her mouth. A nurse standing behind her chair put her hands on Arauco's shoulders.

But later, as the surgery progressed, Arauco said her prayers had been answered.

"Yes, this is a miracle," she said.

"I know, even though I am a sinner, God has paid attention to me, maybe not for my sake, but for my daughter's."