French actor Nadia Farès dies in swimming pool tragedy

Actor Nadia Farès has died at the age of 57.

The Moroccan French star was found unconscious in a swimming pool last week and had been in a coma ever since.

Her daughters confirmed her death, caused by cardiac arrest, in a statement to Agence France-Presse.

"It is with immense sadness that we announce the death this Friday of Nadia Farès. France has lost a great artist, but for us, it is above all a mother that we have just lost," Cylia and Shana Chasman wrote.

The Marrakesh-born actor is best known for her breakout role in 2000's conspiracy thriller The Crimson Rivers, in which she starred opposite Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel.

According to French newspaper Le Figaro, Farès had been found unresponsive at the bottom of a pool at a private club in Paris on 11 April. Bystanders came to her aid and performed CPR as they alerted emergency services, She was then treated by firefighters and transported to hospital, where she was placed in an induced coma.

Farès had been open about her longstanding health issues, revealing she underwent brain surgery in 2007 and had had three heart surgeries.

Cylia Chasman, who is 20, shared on Instagram, "Mama. This is a heartbreak I will never get over.

"Every day I wake up and pray this is a nightmare and that you're still with us. I know you fought your very hardest for your babies. Thank you. Thank you for fighting, thank you for giving me life, thank you for every memory, thank you for the laughs, for the cries."