GERMANY: Twins with different skin colours -- one black and the other white -- are born in Berlin

Record ID: 773530

  • Title: GERMANY: Twins with different skin colours -- one black and the other white -- are born in Berlin
  • Date: 19th July 2008
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF PARENTS AND BABIES GETTING READY TO LEAVE HOSPITAL PARENTS WALKING OUT OF ELEVATOR CARRYING TWINS AND WALKING OUT HOSPITAL ENTRANCE
  • Embargoed: 3rd August 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA16E0RNIOCRQQD84S64VYB8XMP
  • Story Text: A German couple becomes famous after giving birth to twins with different skin colours.
    A couple in Germany have become famous after giving birth to twins with different skin colours. Leo and Ryan were born in a clinic in Berlin last Friday (July 11) and have since become of celebrities.
    The babies' mother Florence Gerth, who is originally from Ghana, described the unproblematic birth as somewhat of a surprise.

    "So he comes out first and he is ok, so I think, it's ok. And then Leo comes out and Leo is black. And I thought: What's going on? That's what I said. But then later on I thought, ok it's just nature. God made it and he knows. But then for the last three or four days I have been looking at the children because it is amazing. It really is, I don't think it happens very often," said the proud mother.
    The possibility of such a genetic mix is 1:1 million, the head of the women's hospital Sana Klinikum in Berlin-Lichtenberg, Sylvia Gericke, explained. After 21 years in the job Gericke said she had never before seen a birth of twins, one black and one white.

    "Experts say that it is even rarer than that. No real work has been done about it so there are no statistics," she told Reuters.
    But all of it was irrelevant to parents of Ryan and Leo who were purely happy that both of the boys were healthy. According to the hospital, Ryan now weighs 2650 grams and is 49 centimetres long. His brother Leo is one centimetre longer and weighed in at 2606 grams.
    Family Gerth left the hospital and made their way home on Friday afternoon.
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  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Footage contains identifiable children: users must ensure that they comply with local laws and regulations governing the publishing of this material.
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