Former 'world's heaviest woman' Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty dies aged 37

An Egyptian woman believed to have once been the heaviest in the world has died aged 37.

Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty, who weighed 78 stone before she travelled to India for weight loss surgery, has died from heart disease and kidney dysfunction.

She was labelled “the world’s heaviest woman” before she was flown to India for the operation, during which she lost more than 15 stone.

But despite the surgery she died in the United Arab Emirates from complications from other health conditions, Burjeel Hospital said in a statement.

Dr Muffazal Lakdawala, who performed the bariatric surgery on the 37-year-old, paid tribute to her on Twitter.

He posted: “You shall always remain in my thoughts and prayers #EmanAhmed .Shall forever remember her smile RIP.”

Bariatric surgery, also known as weight loss surgery, is a stomach shrinking bypass procedure considered a last resort to treat people who are dangerously obese.

According to Ms Abd El Aty's family, she weighed 5kg at birth and as a child was diagnosed with elephantiasis, a condition that causes the limbs to swell.

She was flown by chartered plane to India for the surgery after an online campaign from her sister, but her family accused doctors at the Mumbai hospital of lying over her weight loss.

Ms Abd El Aty was being treated in Abu Dhabi since May.