Three arrested after instructors forget safety cord, woman falls 40 metres to her death in Brazil rope-jumping accident
Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, died instantly when instructors threw her off an abandoned bridge without attaching her safety rope. Three men face homicide charges.
The incident
On Saturday 13 June, Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, a physical education student, was thrown from the 40-metre-high Skeleton Bridge at the border of Limeira and Cordeirópolis, in the interior of São Paulo state. A video that went viral shows two men in white helmets holding her by the arms above their heads while a third holds her feet. Just after she is cast off, an onlooker screams a warning that the safety rope is still on the ground.
The safety equipment was not properly attached at the time of the jump. The victim did not survive the fall.
Emergency services pronounced her dead at the scene. She was buried the following day.
Arrests and legal proceedings
Three men — aged 27, 32 and 42 — were arrested on suspicion of homicide with eventual intent, a Brazilian legal concept that applies when someone accepts the risk of killing without direct intent. Two of them had initially fled into a wooded area but were located by a police helicopter. Six people were detained overall; the other three remain under investigation but have been released.
On Monday, a judge ordered the three men into preventive custody. Local media reports that they were unable to explain the error and appeared disoriented after the incident.
The sport and the bridge
Rope jumping uses low-stretch climbing ropes that convert the fall into a horizontal pendulum swing, unlike bungee jumping’s elastic rebound. The American extreme sportsman Dan Osman, credited as its inventor, died during a rope jump in 1998.
The bridge, known as Skeleton Bridge, has been abandoned for years and is under federal responsibility. According to authorities, the group organising Saturday’s jumps — whose T‑shirts read “Entre Cordas” and “Ih Voei” — lacked legal authorisation. The City Hall of Limeira announced it would sue the federal government for failing to manage the structure.
Her death makes the continuation of this omission unsustainable and unacceptable.
Public shock
Shortly before the jump, Rodrigues de Freitas had posted on Instagram:
Her boyfriend, who was present, needed emergency care for shock. The footage has fuelled a national debate about safety oversight for extreme activities.Who’s the fool who let me come jump off a bridge???
- Woman thrown from bridge without safety rope; dies at scene. Two organisers flee, located by police helicopter.
- Victim buried; three men arrested on suspicion of homicide with eventual intent.
- Judge orders preventive detention for the three suspects; Limeira city hall announces lawsuit against federal government.
