Brazilian amputee model dies

Miss World finalist dies from infection

A Brazilian model whose hands and feet were amputated due to an infection has died.

Mariana Bridi died in the early hours of Saturday morning after struggling to fight the disease for weeks.

The 20-year-old first sought medical help in December and it emerged that she had contracted a seemingly ordinary urinary tract infection, but the bacteria spread quickly and proved to be drug-resistant.

The bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, quickly spread to her veins and in a desperate attempt to save her life, the doctors amputated her hands and feet but, sadly, she died on Saturday.

'God is comforting our hearts because he wanted her to be with him now,' her father Agnaldo Costa told reporters outside the hospital where his daughter died. 'I can't accept that my daughter left us so soon.'

Before her tragic illness, Bridi was a promising model who had been a finalist in the search for Brazil's Miss World contestant in 2006 and 2007.

Next month she was due to take part in a modelling contest held in Sao Paulo by Dilson Stein, the Brazilian model scout who discovered supermodel Gisele Bundchen. CLICK HERE FOR MORE NEWS