Rope Jumper Falls to Her Death After Operators Fail to Secure Harness
The New York Times • • world
Key Points:
- A 21-year-old woman, Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, died after being thrown from Brazil’s Skeleton Bridge in São Paulo State without being attached to safety equipment during a rope-jumping activity.
- Rope jumping differs from bungee jumping in that it uses a less flexible rope for swinging rather than bouncing, but Ms. de Freitas was not connected to any rope at all when she was thrown off the 30-meter-high bridge.
- Videos showed the instructors lifting and throwing Ms. de Freitas off the bridge without securing her harness, unlike previous jumps where ropes were properly clipped; the clips on her harness were empty.
- Three men employed by the rope-jumping company were arrested, with two initially fleeing the scene; the company was unauthorized to conduct jumps from the bridge.
- Ms. de Freitas was buried the following day, and a GoPro camera she carried during the jump was missing from the scene, with instructors unaware of its location.
