Beauty and brains, model and medical student who once appeared on the cover of Vogue and even celebrated by the president of her native Maldives for her stunning looks has reportedly committed suicide at a dormitory hostel in Bangladesh.
Raudha Athif, 21, a second-year student at Islami Bank Medical College in Rajshahi city, was found dead in her room on Wednesday. Her body was recovered by police at around midday after her classmates found her dead. Her body was sent to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital for an autopsy, according to The Daily Star.
Mahmuda Begum, the superintendent of the female hostel, said that she ‘always looked happy,’ and added, ‘it is hard to believe she would commit suicide’. ‘I was in my chamber. Suddenly, I heard screams of my students. ‘Rushing to the second floor of this six-storey building, I saw some of the students trying to break the door of Athif’s room.’ she said
The door was locked from the inside and students broke into the room. ‘We primarily suspect it is a suicide case. However, we can’t come to any conclusion until we get the autopsy report,’ said the officer-in-charge Zillur Rahman.
Raudha Athif’s first major breakthrough was a stunning image taken by photographer Sotti called ‘Maldivian Girl With Aqua Blue Eyes,’. The photo made her an internet sensation in 2014, her fame grew and she eventually landed on the cover of Vogue India in October last year.
“Modelling is a hobby rather than a career for me, since I’m studying to become a doctor,” she told Vogue India when they photographed her last year, picking six models from six nations of the Indian subcontinent to grace their cover. “I’ve never been so bold as to take part in any big pageant before this.”
“The internet is a great place to get noticed,” Vogue India wrote in October, of their reasoning for featuring Athif on their cover. “And given Athif’s unique beauty, it was only a matter of time before offers started pouring in. After experimenting with her pictures on social media sites two years ago, after a great success with ‘Maldivian Girl With Aqua Blue Eyes’ shoot. Photographed by Maldivian photographer Sotti for a project with artist Alexey Vladimir, the beautiful photo of her emerging from a gorgeous blue sea went viral, eventually helping her land the Vogue India cover too.”
“Becoming a doctor to help people has always been my dream,” she told the magazine, explaining that the only advertising campaign she had starred in previously was one for the environmental services at the age of 14. “It was a small environmental campaign for our national television network, encouraging people to ban plastic bags in favour of eco-friendly alternatives,” she said.
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