A 21-year-old model who once graced the cover of Vogue was found dead this week, hanging from a ceiling fan in her Bangladesh dorm room.
Raudha Athif’s horrified friends discovered her on Wednesday, swinging from the fan with a scarf tied around her neck inside her room at Islami Bank Medical College in Bangladesh, Zillur Rahman, the officer in charge at the Shah Makhdum police station, told the Daily Star.
A friend cut the scarf and took Athif’s body down, at first believing she was still alive, according to Rahman. Officials believe she committed suicide, according to the report.
Athif, a second-year medical student at the school, gained fame in 2014 with her “Maldivian Girl With Aqua Blue Eyes” photo shoot.
She, along with five other women, appeared on the cover of Vogue India last October for a “Beauty in Diversity” photo shoot.
But Athif said modeling was always just a side gig for her.
“Modeling is a hobby rather than a career for me, since I’m studying to become a doctor,” Athif told the magazine at the time.
Mahmuda Begum, superintendent of Athif’s female hostel, told the Daily Star that Athif “always looked happy” and “it is hard to believe she would commit suicide.”
An autopsy will confirm Athif’s official cause of death.