A Brazilian actor has died after accidentally hanging himself while impersonating Judas in an Easter Passion play in a public town square, reports said today.

Tiago Klimeck, 27, died overnight after spending more than two weeks in a coma after the incident in the town of Itarare, some 280 kilometers (175 miles) west of Sao Paulo, local newspapers said.

The accident occurred on Good Friday during the staging of the Passion of the Christ in the public square in the center of Itarare when the actor jumped off a stone to simulate the hanging of Judas.

Police investigators said Klimeck, who was re-enacting the scene in which Judas commits suicide after betraying Jesus Christ, was left hanging for about four minutes before anybody realized what had happened.

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