A Delta Air Lines flight made an emergency landing in Halifax Thursday afternoon after conjoined twin babies from Liberia went into cardiac arrest.

Emergency crews met the plane, but the twins, about a month old, were pronounced dead, said Paul Maynard, a spokesman for the province's Emergency Medical Services.

The flight was diverted to Halifax en route to New York from Brussels. It touched down around 2 p.m. AT.

"The flight was about 35 minutes off the Nova Scotia coast when the mother traveling with the twin girls noticed they stopped breathing," said an RCMP news release.

The twins were headed to the United States to receive medical treatment for an unspecified illness, said the RCMP's Cpl. Joe Taplin.

"A medical doctor on board gave medical assistance, but the twins were pronounced dead when they arrived at Stanfield International Airport," Taplin said.

The mother and the babies were taken to the medical examiner's office, which is conducting an investigation, said Taplin.

There were no other details on the cause of death.

Passengers sitting near the twins were also interviewed before the plane resumed its trip to New York's JFK Airport at around 3:30 p.m. AT.

The RCMP is investigating.

With files from The Canadian Press