Freak accident kills beauty queen: Deer crashes through car windshield, becomes Kseniya Alexandrova's cause of death

Kseniya Alexandrova has died after suffering serious brain injuries in a freak accident. In July, while travelling with her husband, Ilya, in Tver Oblast, Russia, their car collided with an elk, a large species of deer.

The 30-year-old former beauty queen was sitting in the passenger seat when the animal struck the vehicle. Her husband later said everything happened within seconds, leaving him no chance to avoid the impact.

The elk suddenly jumped onto the road and crashed through the car’s windshield. It caused severe brain injuries to Kseniya.

"From the moment it jumped out to the impact, a split second passed. I didn't have time to do anything," Ilya told Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

“Everything was covered in blood,” he said.

Alexandrova was found unconscious and bleeding before being rushed to a Moscow hospital, where she remained until her death on August 12.

Who is Kseniya Alexandrova?

Alexandrova was well known in Russia, having finished first runner-up in the Miss Russia 2017 pageant. She represented her country at Miss Universe the same year.

Though she had not placed in the top 16, her work in modelling gained her significant recognition.

Kseniya Alexandrova married Ilya in April, four months before the accident. She shared photos of their wedding on Instagram.

“I never thought that one event could echo inside me for so long. I remember every second, and it feels as if I am still living through the whole whirlwind of emotions,” she wrote on Instagram.

“That day was filled with so much love, joy, and sincere feelings that my heart is still full of them. Thank you to everyone who was with us — it is priceless!” she added.

Kseniya studied finance and credit at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in 2016. She later studied psychology at Moscow State Pedagogical University. At the time of her death, she was working as a therapist and often wrote about mental health on social media.