New details emerge after 21-year-old woman dies in horrific rope jumping incident
Topics: World News, News, Crime, Real Life
Rhianna Benson
Featured Image Credit: Facebook
Topics: World News, News, Crime, Real Life
Police in Brazil have shared further details after a 21-year-old woman died while rope jumping.
The victim, Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, was thrown off the edge of a bridge in Limeira, São Paulo, by bungee instructors who allegedly failed to attach her safety rope.
Rope jumping is similar to bungee jumping, except the rope is not elasticated.
A number of horrified witnesses watched on as she fell to her death from a 130ft drop in a 'Superman' pose.
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Footage of the incident showed two members of staff carrying Jandira, local Rodrigues de Freitas, by her arms and legs in a horizontal position, seemingly unaware that her harness hadn't been attached to the main rope.
Voices could then be heard warning them, 'the rope, people, the rope'.
The camera then panned across to show the safety rope lying on the ground on the platform, while the victim hit the ground below.
Despite firefighters and paramedics being quickly called to the scene, de Freitas was pronounced dead from multiple injuries.
Onlookers to the incident told investigating officers that the bungee staff had accidentally failed to connect the safety equipment before throwing the victim from the bridge.
Six people were transported to Limeira’s Second Police District, after which three men were arrested.
The trio were subsequently charged with homicide with implied malice. They have been identified as Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32, Vitor de Freitas Gonçalves, 27, and Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42.
The charge means that while police believe the suspects didn't intend to kill Maria, they do think their actions mean they assume responsibility for the risk which caused her death.
Local outlet O Globo reports that witnesses said the suspects attempted to flee into the woods after Rodrigues de Freitas' fall, but were captured after being spotted by a police helicopter.
The suspects deny this. Egoroff said in his testimony that he changed his clothes because his 'shirt was already wet, it was very dirty'. He said no one fled and 'everyone responsible stayed there'.
The suspects could not explain what went wrong during Maria's jump.
Cintra said: "Usually it's Felipe who puts on the rope. In 99 percent of cases. And I assist with the operation. I participate in the check, I call the person, I check the helmet.
"But in her case, I don't remember. I don't remember."
Police are investigating whether the incident was the result of negligence.
Police told G1 the people running Maria's jump were not an official company but 'a group of people who met through this sport, who ended up getting together and have been organising these events in various destinations for about a year now'.
Hours earlier, the victim had shared a number of images from the bungee site on Instagram.
She wrote: "Who was the crazy person who let me jump off a bridge?"
Limeira City Hall has pledged to take legal action against the country's federal government, having issued warnings about dangerous access to the abandoned railway bridge for some time.
Ponte do Esqueleto, nicknamed Skeleton Bridge, was meant to be part of Brazil’s Federal Railway Network (RFFSA).
It’s been abandoned for around 30 years. However, it has remained popular with extreme sports enthusiasts, and this isn’t the first tragedy that has taken place there.
According to O Tempo, one businessman claimed the bridge receives 500 visitors a month.
Mum-of-one Kelly Stefani de Oliveira Alves, 39, is cycling with her husband on the Skeleton Bridge when she loses her balance as her foot touches a low wall.
Tragically, she falls off the bridge and drops 15 metres with her bike, dying at the scene and leaving behind a seven-year-old son.
Following the accident, Brazil’s Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services (MGI) asks for the bridge to be closed and for danger signs to warn people not to go on it.
Nevertheless, activities at the site resumed.
Two women fall from the Skeleton Bridge and suffer serious injuries.
One woman is taken to Santa Casa de Limeira hospital with critical injuries. Another suffers multiple fractures throughout her body.