“‘THIS WASN’T A THRILL RIDE… IT WAS A FALL SHE WAS NEVER MEANT TO TAKE.’” A chilling video shows 21-year-old Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas being carried to the edge of a bridge before plunging more than 130 feet — while the safety rope remained on the ground. Seconds later, horrified witnesses could be heard screaming: “The rope! The rope!” Now, heartbreaking footage is raising painful questions about how such a tragedy could happen.

A footage of the incident, which took place in São Paulo’s Limeira, has surfaced on social media, wherein the crew is seen carrying the woman to the edge.

A 21-year-old woman lost her life while bungee jumping in Brazil, after the crew allegedly “forgot” to attach the safety rope before she was plunged from the bridge.

Videos taken from various angles and posted on X show the crew calmly carrying the woman to the edge of the Skeleton Bridge. (X/ Video screengrab)
Videos taken from various angles and posted on X show the crew calmly carrying the woman to the edge of the Skeleton Bridge. (X/ Video screengrab)

A footage of the incident, which took place in São Paulo’s Limeira, has surfaced on social media, wherein the crew is seen carrying the woman, identified as Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas. Videos taken from various angles and posted on X show the crew calmly carrying the woman to the edge of the Skeleton Bridge, before hurling her over.

Meanwhile, the rope is kept on the floor, and can be clearly seen as not being attached to her body. Bystanders can be heard realising this a split second after she is thrown. Maria was thrown at least 130 feet from above, according to the Daily Mail.

Emergency services called, six people held

Witnesses said that the bungee crew had forgotten to connect the safety equipment to Maria prior to her jump on Saturday morning, The Sun cited the military police as saying. Emergency services were called in after the incident. However, the woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her body was recovered by the personnel and sent to the Legal Medical Institute for further investigation, according to the Daily Mail. Meanwhile, at least six people were arrested in connection with the incident. The civil police said they would probe the matter further and determine whether any criminal charges can be brought against the accused.

Victim posted photographs from site

Fall

The 21-year-old had allegedly posted photographs of her jump wristbands and the bridge on her social media handle from the site, right before the activity. In a series of stories, Maria also revealed the location of the bungee jumping, and took pictures of representatives of the company, named “Entre Cordas”, who were handling the activity, according to The Sun. The staff in the pictures were seen wearing T-shirts with the company names.

One of the photographs she posted on Instagram was captioned, “Who was the crazy person who let me come jump off a bridge?” In a video taken of the moments after she was thrown, bystanders can he heard shouting frantically in the background, “the rope, people, the rope.”

The company responsible for conducting the activity was allegedly charging £26.50 ($35.42) for people to bungee jump from the bridge, and had five other dates advertised for the coming months, The Sun reported.

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