Model Vlada Dzyuba,14, collapsed into a coma after a gruelling 13-hour fashion show in Shanghai.
Suffering chronic meningitis, which was worsened by severe exhaustion, Dzyuba died two days after collapsing. The young model was allegedly “too scared” to ask for medical help.
Her contract said she would work a maximum of three hours a week but she had worked non-stop during the prestigious Shanghai Fashion Week.
Dzyuba’s mother Oksana Dzuyba told NTV she was trying to get a visa to see her but did not get it in time.
“She was calling me, saying ‘Mama, I am so tired. I so much want to sleep.’
“It must have been the very beginning of the illness. And then her temperature shot up. I didn’t sleep myself and was calling her constantly, begging her to go to hospital.”
Elvira Zaitseva, the head of the Perm model agency that organised the trip, said: “No-one expected it to lead to such consequences”.
Zaitseva admitted she did not check if Dzyuba had proper medical insurance in her modelling contract.
Russian officials are investigating the circumstances surrounding Dzyuba’s death.
