WORLD BRIEFING
A contestant on a Pakistani reality TV show drowned while performing a challenge for the program, a spokeswoman for the show’s sponsor said.
Contestant Saad Khan, 32, was swimming across a lake wearing a 15-pound backpack when he called out for help and then disappeared underwater, according to Fareshte Aslam, information officer for Unilever Pakistan, the show’s sponsor.
Contestants and crew rushed to try to save him but could not find him in the murky waters of the lake in Bangkok, the Thai capital, where the show was being filmed, said Aslam, who was recounting reports of those on the scene. Divers later recovered the body, she said.
The death came during filming of the show’s 10th episode on Aug. 19, but it was not publicized until Khan’s body was taken home to the southern city of Karachi.
Thai police were investigating to determine whether the death was an accident or caused by negligence, Bangkok’s Kom Chad Luek newspaper reported this month.
It was unclear whether the investigation had been completed.
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