Police have arrested three men after Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, a 21-year-old Brazilian woman, was thrown to her death in an alleged bungee cord jumping accident.
On Saturday (June 13), she fell 131 feet to her death from the Ponte do Esqueleto, known as Skeleton Bridge, in the municipality of Limeira, São Paulo, according to Brazilian outlets G1 and Folha de Pernambuco.
Several sensitive and graphic videos have gone viral showing the moment the woman, who had on a helmet, was picked up by staff members and thrown over the bridge. After tossing the woman, workers realized they hadn’t attached the bungee safety cord. One witness filming the incident shouted, “Guys, the rope!”
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Brazilian Woman, 21, Jokes About Bungee Jump Experience Before Being Thrown To Death
Brazil’s Military Police is now investigating the incident. Witnesses told police that the woman was thrown off the bridge without a rope, falling 40 meters (or 131 feet) to her death. A police helicopter was called for rescue, but sadly the woman died at the scene.
According to outlet, O Globo, the woman reportedly joked ahead of her death. While taking to her Instagram Stories, she allegedly wrote, “Who was the crazy person who let me jump off a bridge???”
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The outlet also reported that her fiancé became ill upon arrival at the scene and seeing her death. He was then to an emergency room. Since the incident, a total of six people were brought in for questioning. Three men, ages 27, 32, and 42, were arrested at the scene and charged with homicide with implied malice.
Delegate Andrea Dantas Levy reportedly told G1:
“It was a team there that wasn’t regulated; they didn’t even have authorization to be there. They ended up organizing this event, and, this fatality happened today, in my perception, due to a failure to verify and supervise the placement of the rope on the victim’s jump.”
The suspects’ defense attorneys said they were all very experienced on the job and that this was the first fatality in years with the company.
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