The world’s only nonuplets (nine babies born at the same time) have safely returned home to Mali after spending the first 19 months of their lives in Morocco.
The babies broke the Guinness World Record for the most children delivered in a single birth to survive.
The nonuplets mother, Halima Cissé was flown to Morocco for special care ahead of the record-breaking delivery.
They lived with medical support in Morocco’s largest city, Casablanca before their return home to Mali.
Arriving in the Malian capital, Bamako, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the father Abdelkader Arby expressed gratitude to the Malian government which he said had been helping the family financially.
“It’s a lot of work but Allah, who gave us this blessing, will help us in their upbringing and taking care of them,” he added.
The babies, five girls and four boys, were born by Caesarean section at 30 weeks, according to the Malian authorities last year.
The girls named Kadidia, Fatouma, Hawa, Adama and Oumou, and the boys named Mohammed VI, Oumar, Elhadji, and Bah weighed between 500g and 1kg (1.1lb and 2.2lb) at birth.
There were risks that they could have developed health problems due to their premature birth and they spent the first months of their lives in hospital.
They were then moved to an apartment where they received round-the-clock care from the Ain Borja clinic.