Viet and Duc Nguyen

Viet Nguyen (Vietnamese: Nguyễn Việt, February 25, 1981 – October 6, 2007) and Duc Nguyen (Vietnamese: Nguyễn Đức, born February 25, 1981) were a pair of Vietnamese conjoined twins surgically separated in 1988. Viet died in 2007 of natural causes.

Viet and Duc were born on February 25, 1981, in Sa Thầy, Kon Tum Province. Viet was the elder and Duc was the younger of the two brothers. Their relatives claim that the reason they became conjoined twins is the influence of Agent Orange that the U.S. military used as a defoliant during the Vietnam War. Their mother was farming in an area doused with Agent Orange a year after the Vietnam War had ended. She also drank water from a well in that area. After that, Viet and Duc were born. On October 4, 1988, Viet and Duc were separated in Ho Chi Minh City with help from the Japanese Red Cross. Afterwards, Viet went into a coma.[1] His health problems continued after the separation, and he died due to liver failure and pneumonia on October 6, 2007, at the age of 26.

Duc now works at a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. On December 16, 2006, he married Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen in Ho Chi Minh City.[2] The couple has two children, a boy named Phú Sĩ (after Mount Fuji) and a girl named Anh Đào (after the cherry blossom). Their names were a dedication to the Japanese, who played an important role in Duc's separation.