A lottery winner died during a dental operation after splashing some of his £26.5million windfall on getting his teeth done.
Police are now investigating whether Antônio Lopes Siqueira’s death was due to natural causes or if there was foul play.
Antônio, 73, was at the clinic getting a dental implant when he was struck by a sudden illness last Wednesday (4 Dec).
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When paramedics arrived at the scene, he was lying on his back and had been in cardiac arrest for more than half an hour.
He was transferred to a hospital, but medics were unable to revive him.
His cause of death is still to be ascertained, but it is known that he suffered from hypertension and diabetes.
Siqueira – a dad-of-four – was a cattle rancher who bought and sold livestock in Mato Grosso, west of Brasilia, Brazil.
He scooped £26.5million (201,963,763.26 BRL) on the Mega Sena – Brazil’s largest lottery – on 9 November.
He claimed the draw’s sole prize – among the top 10 largest jackpots in the lottery’s history – two days later (11 Nov).
Starting dental treatment was one of the first things Siqueira chose to do with his winnings.
He was unsure how to spend the rest, but a source close to his family said he was thinking of buying a house.
They told local media: “He was still figuring out what he was going to do. He didn’t have time to enjoy it.”
Siqueira beat odds of one in 50,063,860 with his winning ticket, which had cost him just 66p (5 BRL).
The boss of the outlet where he bought it said he was a regular customer who often joked about winning the jackpot.
At the time of his passing, Siqueira had been undergoing dental treatment for a week, as reported by Need To Know.
The clinic in Cuiabá is now under investigation and the police will interview the dentist who treated him.
They will also interview other witnesses to determine whether his death was natural or if it was somehow connected to his newfound fortune.
Police chief, Edison Pick, told local media: “If it was a sudden illness, the clinic is not to blame.
“We now need to wait for the post-mortem and the report to clarify what actually happened.”
Siqueira has been laid to rest in his hometown, Jaciara.
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