Brazil woman dies after rope jump without safety cord

A 21-year-old woman died after being launched from an abandoned bridge in Brazil without a safety cord attached, prompting the arrest of three instructors and a police investigation into possible criminal charges.

Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas fell about 40 meters, or 130 feet, from Ponte do Esqueleto, known as Skeleton Bridge, on Saturday in the interior of São Paulo state, on the border of Limeira and Cordeirópolis. Emergency services pronounced her dead at the scene, the BBC reported. She was buried the following day in São Paulo.

Videos of the incident circulated widely on social media over the weekend. They show two men in white helmets holding Rodrigues de Freitas by her arms as a third stands behind holding her feet. She had asked to be launched “airplane style,” the Associated Press reported, with instructors hoisting her above their shoulders as she spread out her arms. As she is released from the bridge, an onlooker can be heard shouting, “Guys, the cord!”

“The safety equipment was not properly secured at the time of the jump. The victim did not survive the fall,” police said in a statement to AFP.

Police investigator Andrea Levy told journalists Monday that three instructors had been arrested and could face manslaughter charges. “They do not remember whether they forgot to attach (the ropes), or who was supposed to do it, or who failed to check. But the fact is the ropes were not attached to her,” Levy said.

Police are also investigating whether the men may be culpable of homicide with eventual intent — a charge involving a person who does not directly intend to kill but assumes the risk of doing so — local news site Globo reported, according to the BBC.

Shortly before the accident, Rodrigues de Freitas posted an image of the site on Instagram with the caption: “Who was the crazy person who let me come jump off a bridge???” CBS News reported that local media said she had aspired to become a physical education teacher.

Rope jumping is an extreme sport distinct from bungee jumping. It uses low-stretch or less elastic climbing ropes that turn a fall into a horizontal, pendulum-like swing, rather than the vertical bouncing effect of an elastic bungee cord. Previous videos of rope-jumping activities at Skeleton Bridge by the company Entre Cordas show participants wearing thick safety cords around their waists before being launched.

Authorities and local officials raised questions about whether the activity was authorized. “It was a team there that wasn’t regulated; they didn’t even have authorization to be there,” Delegate Andrea Dantas Levy told the local outlet G1.

The BBC reported that local officials said the instructors belonged to a private company offering rope-jumping activities, though some local reports suggested they were part of informal groups of practitioners.

The bridge has been abandoned for years and falls under the responsibility of Brazil’s federal government. The Secretariat of Federal Assets said it was “available to assist the authorities in the investigations.” Limeira City Hall said it would sue the federal government for failing to adequately manage the bridge, adding that it “had been adopting administrative measures and demanding action from the federal agencies responsible for the area.” Rodrigues de Freitas’ death, the city said, “makes the continuation of this omission unsustainable and unacceptable.”