The model dies after falling ill on a podium at Sao Paulo Fashion Week

Model Tales Soares is rescued from the podium by paramedics after her collapse at Sao Paulo Fashion Week in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Saturday, April 27, 2019. (Photo: Leco Viana, AP)

RIO DE JANEIRO – A model participant in Sao Paulo Fashion Week has died as a result of his illness and his fall on the podium.

According to a statement by the organizers, Tales Soares got sick on Saturday during the Ocksa fashion label show. A medical team treated him on the podium and Soares was then taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The statement did not provide more details.

The daily Folha de S. Paulo reported that Soares had stumbled on his shoelace and had fallen. According to the newspaper, people in the crowd initially thought that his fall was part of a show.

A photo in the newspaper showed the model lying on the podium while paramedics attended him. The newspaper reported that Soares was 26 years old.

The Brazilian model posted a photo of him at Fashion Week on his Instagram account earlier in the day.