DNA test reveals two lifelong friends are actually sisters

A DNA test has revealed that two Dutch women who became close friends as teenagers are actually biological sisters, separated in infancy after being adopted from two different orphanages in Mumbai.

Mina Geltink and Minal Tissen, both born in Mumbai in the 1980s, were adopted by separate Dutch families when they were only a few months old.

They first met as teenagers at an event and were struck by their striking resemblance, from their facial features to their mannerisms.They exchanged phone numbers and addresses and began writing letters, eventually developing a close friendship.

But their lives took different paths, and they lost contact about 15 years ago after Minal moved from the Netherlands to France.

In 2017, Mina learned about DNA testing at an event for people adopted from India. Hoping to discover more about her biological roots, she took a test but found no matches. She later deleted the DNA-matching app from her phone.

On May 20 this year, however, Minal contacted her on Facebook with a simple message: “Do you remember me?”

The message prompted Mina to reinstall the app. Nervous as she tried to access it, she entered the wrong password 10 times. When she finally opened the results, she found a 100% DNA match with Minal.

The two women then discovered that their friendship had begun decades earlier without either knowing they were sisters.

Mina, 43, and Minal, 44, are biological daughters of the same parents. They met again last August—this time not as old friends, but as sisters reunited after decades apart.

The extraordinary story was reported by the BBC.