An actor accidentally hanged himself while re-enacting the death of Judas in an Easter play. The tragic accident took place in the town of Itarare, in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The actor, Tiago Klimeck, 27, hanged himself when he jumped off of a 4-foot perch with a stage noose around his neck. The noose was attached to a vest, like the kind used in movies, which is designed to break his fall and give the illusion that he was being hanged.

But the vest malfunctioned — or wasn’t secured properly. So when Klimeck jumped, the vest slid up and crushed his trachea (airway). Once his trachea was crushed, he could neither cry out nor breath. It was a slow and agonizing death. Klimeck’s cast members in the play didn’t realize he was choking to death.

One cast member draped a sheer cloth over him as he dangled in the air for over 4 minutes before they finally realized the tragedy that was unfolding.

Ironically, the cast members couldn’t see that Klimeck was turning blue (from severe hypoxia) because of the dark cloth over his head.

Klimeck could have been saved if the production had followed stunt safety guidelines, and or had medical personnel on standby.

The brain can struggle without air for only 4 minutes before a human being is considered brain dead.