In a story that has stunned Austria and captured international attention, two women have discovered they are twin sisters—35 years after being mistakenly switched at birth in a hospital in the city of Graz.

Born prematurely in October 1990, the infants were placed in incubators shortly after delivery. Due to a critical error in identification, each baby was handed to the wrong family, and the mix-up went unnoticed for decades.

The truth began to unravel when one of the women, now in her mid-thirties, learned through a routine blood donation that her blood type did not match that of her presumed parents. Although an investigation was launched in 2016, efforts to locate the other family were unsuccessful.

The breakthrough came just weeks ago when the second woman, pregnant with her first child, discovered her blood type during prenatal testing. The unusual result led her to revisit the 2016 case, and a DNA test confirmed the unimaginable: she and the other woman were biological twins.

The sisters have since met in person, along with their biological parents, in what they described as an emotional and surreal reunion. “It’s overwhelming, but beautiful,” one of the women said. “There’s a strange sense of familiarity, even though we’ve lived completely different lives.”

The hospital involved has acknowledged the error and expressed deep regret. “We are profoundly sorry for the mistake that occurred at the time,” said the hospital’s director in a public statement.

The story has sparked renewed calls for stricter protocols in neonatal care and identification procedures, as well as support for families affected by such rare but life-altering errors.