A 38-year-old influencer has been found dead in a lake after going missing during a gruelling triathlon event.
Brazilian Mara Flavia Araujo was pulled from Lake Woodlands on the outskirts of Houston, Texas, on Saturday at around 9.30am.
She had disappeared during the swimming portion of the Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas event around two hours earlier, and was pronounced dead after a water rescue team found her at the bottom of the lake.
The swimming section of the race is around 2.4 miles long in waters with an average temperature of 23C.
Ms Araujo had posted a photo of herself sitting poolside to her 60,000 Instagram followers just one day before she died.
Its caption read: ‘Just another day at work!’
Ms Araujo’s sister, Melissa, confirmed her death on Saturday as police began an investigation into what caused the accident.
A friend of the influencer, Luis Taveira, suggested that she may have been struggling with health issues in the days before the race.
He said: ‘She was ill before the trip, she wasn’t okay.
‘My wife and I spoke with her to say she was too weak for this race, although a couple of days ago when we talked to her, she insisted she was okay.
‘I still cannot believe what’s happened. She was weakened because of the flu.’
In an interview with local media, The Woodlands Fire Chief, Palmer Buck, said his team were notified about a ‘lost swimmer’ at around 7.30am on Saturday morning.
He added: ‘We already had a rescue boat on the scene, they were out as part of the racecraft working the event.
‘They let us know as we were arriving on the scene that they were searching near a buoy for a lost swimmer.’
Due to poor water visibility, a dive team was then called to assist with the search.
‘The victim was found in about 10 feet of water on the bottom of the lake,’ Mr Buck added. ‘The dive team accessed the victim, brought her up at about 9.37am and then brought her to the shore where she was pronounced deceased on the scene.’
Ms Araujo was an accomplished athlete and regularly shared pictures and videos of her training to social media. She came third in this year’s Brasilia Triathlon and managed to qualify for the Ironman 70.3 twice.
She recently told her followers how she became a triathlete eight years ago after being diagnosed with a health problem, writing: ‘I saw a way to be reborn, God and sport.’
She was born in Sao Paulo and started working as a radio presenter, but began DJing in the months prior to her death.
The Texas triathlon’s organisers announced Mr Araujo had died with a statement.
It read: ‘We are saddened to confirm the death of a race participant during the swim portion of today’s triathlon.
‘We send our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the athlete, and will offer them our support as they go through this very difficult time.
‘Our gratitude goes out to the first responders for the assistance.’
Ms Araujo’s passing comes nine years after Glen Bruemmer, 54, also lost his life during the swimming portion of the Houston-based event.
He was pulled from the water and pronounced dead in hospital.
