A woman has died in what appears to be a tragic extreme sports accident in Brazil.
Three men have been arrested over the incident, in which instructors failed to attach a rope to her before helping her jump from a bridge in São Paulo state.
Footage went viral over the weekend of Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas being carried to the edge of the abandoned bridge before being let go on Saturday. She fell 40m (130ft) and emergency services pronounced her dead at the scene.
Police are now investigating whether the men are culpable of homicide with eventual intent – when someone does not have the direct intention but assumes the risk of killing – local news site Globo reports.
The incident happened in Ponte do Esqueleto, on the border of Limeira and Cordeirópolis, in the interior of São Paulo, Brazil.
In the footage posted on social media, two men in white helmets can be seen holding Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, by her arms while a third is behind holding her feet.
When she is cast off the bridge, an onlooker screams at the instructors to attach her cord.
The three men were wearing harnesses that appear to be attached to a security rope.
Rodrigues de Freitas was buried the following day.
Rope-jumping is an extreme sport that differs from bungee jumping.
It uses low-stretch climbing ropes that convert the fall into a horizontal, pendulum swing, while bungee jumping uses an elastic rubber cord that creates a vertical, bouncing effect.
The bridge, called “Skeleton Bridge” has been abandoned for years and falls under responsibility of the federal government. Brazil’s Secretariat of Federal Assets (SPU) said it was “available to assist the authorities in the investigations”.
The City Hall of Limeira (SP) announced it would sue the federal government for failing to adequately manage the bridge.
It said it “had been adopting administrative measures and demanding action from the federal agencies responsible for the area”.
Rodrigues de Freitas’ death “makes the continuation of this omission unsustainable and unacceptable”, the statement continued.
Local officials said the instructors had belonged to a private company that offered rope-jumping activities, though some local reports suggest they had belonged to informal groups of practitioners.
