“It was desperation”, says to CNN father of dead miss after jumping from the 6th floor to escape the fire

Model and Miss Paraíba Mayara Ingrid Silva Nitão, 27, died after trying to escape a fire in her apartment by jumping out of a sixth-floor window. She was attended by the Fire Department, but she couldn’t resist.

She lived with her 23-year-old brother, César Henrique Silva Nitão, in an apartment in Itaim Bibi, an upscale neighborhood in the west zone of São Paulo. Both were on site during the fire. He inhaled smoke and was admitted to the Beneficência Portuguesa Hospital, but is conscious and should be discharged soon.

A CNN businessman César Nitão, father of the victim, commented on the incident: “She was in the first room and he [irmão] in the second. In desperation, she broke the window and the protective screen, threw her purse, her cell phone and then threw herself. He, when he realized what was happening, managed to get out the door, but he inhaled a lot of smoke. Five more minutes and I would have died too.”

On social media, the father vented: “The hardest flight of my life”. In another publication, the businessman lamented the death of his daughter. “The love of my life is now a star in the sky! Love you forever my beautiful daughter,” he wrote.

Mayara Nitão was born in Campina Grande and has lived in São Paulo for eight years. She was crowned Miss Sertão Paraibano 2023, and would represent her region in the 2023 National Beauty Contest, which will elect the 63rd Miss Brasil Mundo.

The cause of the fire has not been identified. “Old buildings have to change electrical and plumbing installations, and that doesn’t happen. It was probably a short in an outlet near the couch in the living room. It came from the sofa to the rooms and took the whole apartment”, questioned César Nitão.

After release, Mayara Nitão’s body will travel to João Pessoa, where it will be cremated in Cabedello, Paraíba.

With information from Bruno Laforé, from CNN .