A popular Chinese cosplay model has reportedly died after falling into a hotel swimming pool on a western Pacific island.
Jovie Liu, 25, also known as Liu Youling, was chosen by her social media fans to go to Saipan as a model for a photo shoot organised by a company on September 21.
Liu’s makeup artist said the model was flushed into a three-metre-deep (9.8 ft) water zone by the water current during the shoot.
Jovie Liu Youling, posed for a picture at an airport before flying to Saipan for a photo shoot (left). The 25-yer-old cosplay model (right) was chosen by her social media fans for the trip
According to Beijing News, Liu and the crew were having a photo shoot at the Sea Fun Villa on September 25.
In addition to Liu, two other people fell into the water, and none of them were able to swim.
Liu was trapped in the water for two to three minutes before hotel staff rushed to pull her up.
She was taken to the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation in the afternoon in a state of coma.
Liu posted pictures of herself daily on Weibo (left and right). She fell into a swimming pool at Sea Fun Villa during a photo shoot on September 25 and was pronounced dead the day after
However, she was pronounced dead the next day as doctors said she died from lack of oxygen to the brain.
The other two were saved as they were flushed to a shallow area which was 1.8 metres deep (5.9 ft).
Qi Bao, the company who organised the photo shoot, is due to hold a memorial service for Liu on September 30.
Liu was also a famous freelance photographer in eastern China’s Hangzhou, taking pictures of cosplay models.
Liu had previously taken photos for other cosplay models including a medieval princess and a video game character (left and right)
Liu travelled to Saipan, pictured, for a week of Japanese-themed photoshoot for a company
With over 150,000 followers on her Weibo account, Liu was in the list of potential influencers on POCO, a Chinese photography website.
One of Liu’s apprentices told Metropolitan Daily that Liu was going to Saipan for a Japanese-themed photo shoot.
‘A photography company organised a crowdfunding event, and asked web users to crowdfund their favourite models and she (Liu) won.’