A 14-year-old Russian model dies in Shanghai amid rumors of inhumane labor conditions

A 14-year-old Russian model from Perm has died in Shanghai from multiple organ failure caused by sepsis and an infection of her central nervous system, according to the news agency RIA Novosti.

The girl was reportedly subjected to inhumane working conditions at Shanghai fashion shows. Representatives of the Chinese modeling agency Esee told Russian reporters that the girl had no medical insurance, arguing a Russian agency should have provided her with a policy. Esee says it paid the girl’s $800 medical bill, after she was hospitalized.

The director of a Perm modeling agency that worked with the victim says the girl’s death is believed to be the result of meningitis. Russian investigators have opened a preliminary review of the death.