Woman Dies in Rope Jumping Accident in São Paulo State, Brazil

A tragic accident occurred in São Paulo State, Brazil, when a 21-year-old woman died after rope jumping from a bridge without being attached to safety equipment. The incident took place on Saturday at Ponte do Esqueleto, also known as Skeleton Bridge, a popular location for rope jumping approximately 100 miles northwest of the city of São Paulo.

Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas from Jandira, São Paulo, was thrown from the abandoned bridge, which stands nearly 30 meters above the ground. Contrary to bungee jumping which uses a stretchy rope, rope jumping involves a less flexible rope that swings outwards when taut. Unfortunately, Ms. de Freitas was not secured with any rope.

Videos of the event, widely circulated on social media, depicted Ms. de Freitas being lifted by two instructors with her arms outstretched before she was thrown off the bridge’s edge. While the instructors wore harnesses, the clips intended to attach her harness to the rope appeared empty.

Prior recordings from the same location showed participants being launched over instructors’ heads with a thick rope attached to their harnesses. However, Ms. de Freitas’s harness was not attached in this manner.

“A nurse attempted resuscitation upon police arrival, but she was found without vital signs,” stated the official report from the Civil Police of the State of São Paulo.

The police arrested three men involved with the company organizing the rope jumps. Two of these men fled the scene initially upon police questioning but were later apprehended. The company reportedly lacked authorization to conduct jumps from the bridge, according to Brazil’s Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services.

Ms. de Freitas had been using a GoPro-style camera during her jump, yet police could not locate the device, and the instructors claimed ignorance about its whereabouts.

The victim was buried on Sunday in the state of São Paulo, as reported by The Associated Press.