An 18-year-old model in Uruguay has died of heart failure six months after her sister, another model, suffered the same fate in the middle of a runway show.

Eliana Ramos, 18 and known by the nickname Elle, died Feb. 15, her body discovered by her grandmother, with whom she was staying as her parents were away. She had worked with the modelling agency Pancho Dotto in Argentina.

Ramos' autopsy ruled she died of acute heart failure. But the young model's death, and that of her sister Luisel, who died at 22 on Aug. 2, raised questions as to whether they might have had eating disorders or used drugs.

Luisel collapsed after walking down the runway as she headed back into a dressing room in the middle of a show. In her case the autopsy found that Luisel died of heart failure and mentioned a congenital heart defect. In November a 21-year-old Brazilian model died of anorexia a day before she was scheduled to fly to Paris for a photo shoot. Ana Carolina Reston was 1.74m tall and weighed 40kg when she died.

Excessively low weight

Her death provoked outrage at the global fashion industry for emphasising models who are unhealthily thin.

Five models were banned from Madrid's most important ready-to-wear fashion show because they were too thin.

"Their weight can have a bad influence and be responsible for problems linked to anorexia," according to a conference in Madrid. the regional government of Madrid, which helps finance The show, aimed to ensure that young people do not take as examples models who are too thin. Last year five models were barred for the same reason.