A 14-year-old Russian model died after suffering from “utter exhaustion” during a three month modelling assignment in China. Vlada Dzyuba collapsed into a coma after a gruelling 12-hour fashion show in Shanghai.
Sadly, she never regained consciousness and died two days later.
She was found to be suffering from chronic meningitis.
It has been claimed the teen was on a “slave labour” contract and had been too afraid to seek medical treatment.
Officially she was only allowed to work three hours a week.
A number of young Russian models are recruited to China, but Vlada’s tragic case has raised concerns over working conditions for the models and how they can be exploited.
Moscow is set to demand an explanation over the conditions Vlada was living in during her time working in Asia.
The Siberian Times reported that the girl’s temperature soars moments before she was set to go out on the catwalk.
Her devastated mother Oksana said: “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.”
She had been trying to get a visa to fly out to be with her young daughter before she passed away.
The head of the Perm modelling agency behind her trip, Elvira Zaitseva, said: “No-one expected it to lead to such consequences.
“We are now reaping what we have sown.”
She admitted not checking Valda’s contract and if she had proper medical insurance.
Kremlin human rights ombudsman in Perm, Pavel Mikov, is personally investigating the girl’s death.