(NEXSTAR) – Kseniya Alexandrova, a model, television host and former Miss Universe contestant from Russia, has died at the age of 30.
“The Miss Universe Organization extends its deepest and most heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, and everyone whose life was touched by the light of Miss Universe Russia 2017, Kseniya Alexandrova,” reads a social media post shared by the Miss Universe Organization on Thursday.
“Her grace, beauty, and spirit left an unforgettable mark on the Miss Universe family and beyond,” the post continued. “May her memory continue to inspire kindness, strength, and love in all those who were fortunate enough to know her.”
Alexandrova, who had competed in the 2017 Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas, was severely injured on July 5, after a car she was riding in collided with an elk on the M9 highway a few hours east of Moscow, her husband told Russia’s state-owned RIA Novosti news agency.
“The elk flew into the car,” her husband said, per a translation of the RIA Novosti article. “The blow hit Ksyusha in the head. She was unconscious, her head was broken, everything was covered in blood.”
Alexandrova was taken to a hospital in Rzhev before being transferred to a facility in Moscow, where she had been in a coma, RIA Novosti reported. She regained consciousness for a time, but “suddenly went back into a coma” and later developed sepsis and died, her husband said.
He said he’s now petitioning for netting to be installed along the M9 route where the accident occurred, claiming there are people “constantly dying in this place from clashes.”
Alexandrova’s modeling agency, in a statement shared upon her death, called her “a symbol of beauty, kindness and inner strength.”
“We sincerely mourn and express our deepest condolences to her family, friends and everyone who had the pleasure of knowing Kseniya,” the agency wrote.