Egyptian actress Mirna El-Mohandes died Wednesday afternoon at The International Medical Centre near Cairo after going into a coma earlier that morning following a severe blood platelet deficiency she had suffered from for days, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm .
The young actress was reportedly battling an intestinal illness throughout the last decade of her life, for which she had to undergo multiple surgical operations. Her death caused an outpouring of grief on social media as the hashtag bearing her name dominated Twitter following the breaking of the news.
Users expressed shock and dismay at what they saw was a tragic and untimely death and a great loss for the Egyptian arts community. Many called her a "princess" and a "huge talent" as they appeared to be heartbroken about the circumstances of her death and the amount of suffering she had to endure from her illness.
Many of her peers reached out on social media to express their grief and heartbreak as well. Egyptian actor Mohamed Emam wrote on Facebook "may Allah have mercy on her and give strength to her family," while Jordanian actress Mais Hamdan wrote "the beautiful Mirna El-Mohandes is in Allah's hands, I ask you to pray for her mercy and forgiveness."
In addition, Egyptian singer Shady El-Ghetany also wrote on Facebook "the beautiful, the peaceful and the beloved colleague Mirna El-Mohandes, she suffered a lot and she has finally rested, pray for her mercy."
El-Mohandes started out her career doing commercials at the age of 9 and later studied at the High Institute for Theatrical Arts. Her breakout role came in 1994 when she played Perksam in the hit TV show "Arabesque," followed by greater success in the 1995 TV show "Saken Ussadi," in addition to appearing in the popular '90s hit "Yawmeyat Wanis" in 1997.
She also appeared in "Mahmoud Al-Masry" with acclaimed Egyptian actor Mahmoud Abd El-Aziz in 2004 and most recently on the successful TV show "Oreed Ragolan" with Eyad Nasser. In addition to her television career, she also achieved a lot of commercial success in films such as "Ayazuno" in 2006 and "El Aeyal Herbet" in 2009.