Woman dies after buttocks injection

Police were trying to trace a fake doctor last night after a Maryland woman who travelled to New York City to receive silicone buttocks injections died during a procedure in a basement apartment.

New York police said the woman suspected in the death of 34-year-old Kelly Mayhew fled after she fell ill.

The woman was found unresponsive at the Queens apartment on Saturday. Her mother performed CPR and called 911, but Mayhew did not survive.

Illicit silicone injections have killed more than a dozen people in the US, including a New York woman in 2013.

In March, a Philadelphia woman was convicted of murder after injecting low-grade silicone into a woman’s buttocks at an airport hotel room. The substance traveled to her lungs and killed her.

Mayhew celebrated her voluptuous figure on Facebook, posting numerous pictures of her backside, according to Daily News of New York.

Her final post featured a photo of curvy performers Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj, and the caption “love,” the newspaper reported.

Family friend Kem Harris said Mayhew “brought life” to those around her.

The BET Networks, where Mayhew worked as a freelancer, issued a statement extending condolences to her family.

Mayhew’s mother told police that her daughter was healthy and had five previous buttock enhancements.

The latest procedure was reportedly organised by a family friend. Detectives are hunting for the suspect.

A postmortem examination was inconclusive, and the city medical examiner’s office said additional studies would be carried out.

The owner of the three-storey home where the procedure took place told Sky News the tenant who was living there was going through a “financial hardship”.

She added: “I suspected something was going on but I didn’t know what it was.”