Falla de seguridad mortal en Brasil
Joven de 21 años muere en Brasil tras ser lanzada sin seguridad por instructores
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A 21-year-old woman died after two rope-jumping instructors threw her from a 40-meter (131-foot) bridge in Brazil — without attaching her to a safety rope. Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas fell into the Jaguari River at the Ponte do Esqueleto bridge in Limeira, São Paulo, on June 13, 2026, according to ABC7.
Witnesses on the bridge screamed "A corda! A corda!" — "The rope! The rope!" — as she fell. The safety cord was still coiled on the bridge deck. Maria Eduarda was buried the next day in her hometown of Jandira, roughly 150 kilometers from the bridge, according to 6ABC.
Instructors Skipped the One Check That Would Have Saved Her
Eyewitness Higor Diniz told investigators that every other jumper that morning went through a safety check. "In all other cases, the instructors pulled the rope and saw if everything was okay," he said. "In hers... they didn't do that." The instructors lifted Maria Eduarda in an "airplane-style" launch — carrying her on their shoulders with arms spread — and threw her into the void, according to ABC11.
Rope jumping is different from bungee jumping. Instead of an elastic cord that bounces you back up, a static rope catches the jumper mid-fall and swings them like a pendulum. The fall itself is fully free. Without the rope attached, there is nothing to stop the drop. A rope-jumping expert told local media the tragedy was a "grotesque error" that a basic two-person safety check would have prevented "100% of the time."
Instructors Fled Into the Woods, Then Got Caught by Police Helicopter
After Maria Eduarda fell, the two instructors ran from the bridge into a nearby wooded area. Police deployed an "Águia" helicopter to search for them. By 12:30 PM — about two and a half hours after the fall — officers had located and detained them. A total of six people connected to the event organizer, a company called Entre Cordas, were taken to the Second Police District of Limeira, according to ABC11.
Three instructors, aged 20 to 35, now face formal homicide charges. The specific charge is "homicide with dolus eventualis" — a legal term meaning they did not plan to kill her, but acted with such reckless disregard that they accepted the risk of death. During questioning, the instructors claimed a "memory lapse" about who was supposed to perform the final safety check, according to 6ABC.
The Bridge Was a Legal Gray Zone Used for Profit
The Ponte do Esqueleto — "Skeleton Bridge" — is an abandoned railway bridge. It has no official operator. Yet private adventure companies like Entre Cordas used it as a commercial site for extreme sports, drawing tourists and social media influencers. Entre Cordas was operating without a municipal permit, according to investigators, according to ABC7.
Maria Eduarda herself posted Instagram stories just minutes before the jump. Her final caption read: "Who was the crazy person who let me come jump off a bridge???" She was a Physical Education student from Jandira who loved outdoor sports. The city of Limeira has now announced plans to physically block access to the bridge and sue the organizers to stop any further unregulated commercial activity there.
Brazil's Adventure Tourism Industry Faces a Reckoning
Brazil has safety standards for outdoor adventure sports — but enforcement is weak. Many companies operate in what experts call a "legal vacuum," running commercial jumps on public or abandoned infrastructure with no federal oversight. The Brazilian Adventure Tourism Association is now expected to face pressure to create a mandatory national registry for rope-jumping instructors, similar to rules already in place for skydiving, according to 6ABC.
The sport's own history carries a warning. Dan Osman, the man credited with pioneering rope jumping, died in 1998 in Yosemite National Park when his rope failed — even with proper equipment in place. The viral spread of footage showing the unused safety cord on the bridge deck has sparked a wide public backlash in Brazil against extreme sports companies that prioritize profit over basic safety, according to ABC11.
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