Tragic 'mermaid baby' lived for just 15 minutes

A mother is devastated after losing her 'mermaid' baby just minutes after she gave birth.

The unnamed baby, whose sex was unclear due to its fused legs and 'missing genitals', had a rare condition known as sirenomelia or 'mermaid syndrome', which has no known cause. 

Disksha Kamble, 25, gave birth naturally on Monday morning at a government-run hospital in Beed in Maharashtra, western India. 

Mrs Kamble had undergone just one scan during her eight-month pregnancy and therefore only learnt about the baby's condition when she first saw it after giving birth.

Her husband Nanoba Kamble, 32, a daily-wage labourer, said: 'My wife and I are shattered with the loss of our child. We have never seen or known a baby like this.'

Mermaid syndrome is thought to affect one in every 60,000-to-100,000 births. 

Mrs Kamble arrived at the hospital with her husband after experiencing labour pains early on Monday morning. 

The couple lost a child three years ago but have since had a healthy daughter. 

Dr Sanjay Bansode, a gynaecologist at the hospital, was shocked to discover the baby came out weighing just 3.19lbs with 'fins'.

He said: 'It is an extremely rare condition. The mother had arrived at 7am in the morning and by 9am she had delivered the child through natural birth.

'We were anticipating a head or legs but a strange "fin-like" mass came out.

'Everyone of us were shocked to see the baby. My students had never seen something like this before.

'The baby not only had legs fused together and missing genitals but also had other internal anomalies like renal and lungs deformity.

'The baby could not survive more than 15 minutes.'