BRASILIA - A 21-year-old Brazilian rope jumper was killed on Saturday when two instructors launched her off a bridge without first attaching the mandatory safety cord, police said.
Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas died at Ponte do Esqueleto, an abandoned bridge at Limeira, in Sao Paulo state, popular with extreme sports tourists,
She had asked to be launched "airplane style", hoisted above the instructors' shoulders with her arms outstretched.
Video circulating online shows the two men launching her into a 40-metre drop as an onlooker screams for them to attach her safety cord. The instructors themselves were harnessed.
Police said the safety line had not been properly secured and the woman did not survive the fall.
Three men employed by the company, Entre Cordas, were arrested on charges of homicide with dolus eventualis, meaning they proceeded despite awareness of the risk of death.
Shortly before the jump, Rodrigues de Freitas posted a photo of the bridge on Instagram, captioning it: "Who was the crazy person who let me come jump off a bridge???"
She was buried on Sunday. Investigations are ongoing to determine liability.
Rope jumping differs from bungee jumping in that it uses a low-stretch cord, causing participants to swing like a pendulum rather than bounce.
