Woman died in rope jumping incident was not attached to safety equipment, police say

A 21-year-old woman who died in a rope jumping incident over the weekend was not attached to any safety equipment, a Brazilian police investigator said Monday.

Andrea Levy said the three jumping instructors involved in the incident acknowledged that Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas was not connected to safety ropes when she jumped Saturday in the countryside of São Paulo state.

Levy said the three instructors have 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.

De Freitas was buried on Sunday after the accident at Ponte do Esqueleto, an abandoned bridge in Limeira, a city 148 kilometers (92 miles) north of São Paulo.

The young woman had asked to be launched from the bridge ‘airplane style’, with two instructors hoisting her above their shoulders as she spread out her arms. Footage shared online shows two men in white helmets launching her into a 40-meter (130-foot) abyss.

The instructors are wearing harnesses that appear to be attached to a security rope.

Rope jumping is an extreme sport that differs from bungee jumping in the type of cord used and the resulting motion of the fall. Bungee jumping uses elastic rubber cords that create a vertical, bouncing effect, whereas rope jumping uses low-stretch climbing ropes that convert the fall into a horizontal, pendulum swing.