21-year-old dies in Brazil after rope-jumping company forgets to attach safety cord
Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, was pushed from a 40-metre bridge in Limeira, São Paulo, on Saturday without the safety rope secured, witnesses said. She died from multiple traumas at the scene.
The accident
A 21-year-old woman died on Saturday morning while practising rope jumping from the Esqueleto Bridge in Limeira, a city 150 kilometres from São Paulo. Video shared on social media shows three employees of a radical-sports company carrying the woman to a platform and then pushing her into the void. The safety cord, however, remained on the bridge. Seconds later, onlookers began shouting: "the rope, people, the rope."
The victim, Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, fell approximately 40 metres and suffered fatal polytrauma. Emergency teams, including firefighters and a mobile urgent-care service, were called, but death was confirmed at the site. Witnesses attempted cardiac massage while waiting for paramedics, according to CNN Brasil.
Final posts
Before the jump, the young woman posted Instagram stories documenting the outing. One image shows a sign reading "Danger. Risk of Death." She wrote:
Who let me jump off a bridge? I must be crazy.
A man who was waiting his turn later told the G1 portal that he would have been the one to jump had he arrived earlier. "It was supposed to be me," he said.
Company and arrests
The activity was run by a company operating under the brands "Entre Cordas" and "Ih Voei." It charged between 180 and 250 reais (roughly 30 to 42 euros) per jump and had a calendar of future dates in São Paulo and Minas Gerais. Six people from two organizing firms were detained. Three remain in preventive custody. Two suspects fled into a wooded area immediately after the accident and were located with the help of a police helicopter.
Regulatory void
The municipality of Limeira released a statement saying it will take the case to court. It accused the federal government of failing to enforce safety on the bridge.
Since the beginning of 2025, the municipal administration has been adopting measures and demanding action from the federal bodies responsible for the area. We had already sent official letters requesting safety measures, but no concrete action was taken.
The sport is not prohibited in Brazil, but it has no specific regulation. A military police investigation is underway to determine the circumstances of the death and the company’s responsibility.
