The husband of a woman who gave birth to nine babies has said he is “not worried” about the future – despite the large brood.
Halima Cisse, 25, from Mali, had been thought to be carrying septuplets all the way through her pregnancy.
But doctors were shocked to find two more children when they performed a C-section on Tuesday.
All nine babies – five girls and four boys – are said to be “doing well”.
Ms Cisse was flown to Morocco in March for specialist care after the Malian government intervened in her rare case.
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Husband Adjudant Kader Arby stayed behind in the couple’s home country to be with their older daughter while his wife went abroad.
He told the BBC after the birth: “God gave us these children. He is the one to decide what will happen to them.
“I’m not worried about that. When the almighty does something, he knows why.”
Mr Arby added that he and his family have been overwhelmed by the support they have received.
“Everybody called me! Everybody called! The Malian authorities called expressing their joy,” he said.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
“I thank them… Even the president called me.”
Ms Cisse was sent to Morocco due to concern in Mali for her welfare and the chance of the babies’ survival.
Her story is said to be a source of fascination in the West African nation, with nonuplets being so rare.
It is unclear if the birth is the result of in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
Medical complications in multiple births often mean that some of the babies do not reach full term.
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But, so far, the children are said to be healthy.
“The newborns (five girls and four boys) and the mother are all doing well,” Mali’s health minister, Fanta Siby, said in a statement.
Should all nine babies survive, the birth would break the current world record set by ‘Octomum’ Nadya Suleman in 2009.
She gave birth to eight babies that survived.
(Image: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Two sets of nonuplets have previously been recorded, although none of the babies survived.
One was born to a woman in Australia in 1971 and another to a woman in Malaysia in 1999.
The UK’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), said Ms Cisse’s birth was an “incredibly rare event but not impossible”.
“A ‘multiple pregnancy’ is the term used when you are expecting two or more babies at the same time. It occurs in about one in 80 pregnancies,” said Asma Khalil, professor of obstetrics and maternal foetal medicine at St George’s Hospital in London and RCOG spokesperson.
“It’s very positive to see reports that mother and babies are doing well and received the care they needed,” she added.
Before her transfer, Ms Cisse had spent two weeks at a hospital in Bamako, Mali’s capital.
The private Ain Borja clinic in Casablanca confirmed she had given birth there.