Sisters' Deaths Fuel Thin Model Debate

Two sisters, both models, have died of apparent heart attacks within months of each other in a family tragedy, as the fashion world debates how to protect the health of painfully thin runway models.

Eliana Ramos, 18, was found dead at her grandparents' home in the Uruguayan capital on Tuesday, authorities said. Her sister Luisel, 22, died shortly after stepping down from a runway last Aug. 2 during a fashion show here.

While no medical report was immediately released after the latest death, Judge Roberto Timbal told the respected online news outlet Observa that Eliana Ramos died of a heart attack. An autopsy on Luisel found that she also died of a heart attack.

The judge told Observa that "nothing out of the ordinary" appeared to be involved in the death, but that an autopsy was conducted on his orders and that final test results would be made available in a month. Fellow models said that neither sister suffered from an eating disorder.

However, the girls' deaths at such young ages prompted widespread media attention in Latin America, where the fashion industry's treatment of young women has been the subject of a lively debate since anorexia was blamed for the deaths of 21-year-old model Ana Carolina Reston and three other Brazilian women in December.

The father of the two women, Luis Ramos, is a former soccer player for Uruguayan squad Nacional from the 1960s, and reportedly was vacationing with his wife elsewhere in the country at the time of Eliana Ramos' death.

One model who shared the runway with Eliana Ramos, Lucia Brocal, dismissed speculation that poor eating habits had anything to do with her death.

"I'm indignant," she said of some local reports speculating on her death. "She died for the same reasons her sister did."

Erika Fallen, another model, also rejected any speculation that an eating disorder could have played a role.

"Whenever something happens, they try to relate it to eating problems. But she died just like her sister did," Fallen said.