The Halifax Chronicle-Herald said on its website that the Delta Airlines jet had been about 35 minutes off the coast of the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia when the twin girls' mother noticed they were not breathing.

The paper quoted a Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman as saying a doctor on board the airliner had tried to help, but to no avail. The plane, en route to New York from Brussels, was diverted to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the twins were formally declared dead.

The paper said the girls were from the African nation of Liberia. The RCMP in Halifax were not immediately available for comment. -- REUTERS