Woman, 21, dies after being thrown from Brazil rope jump bridge without harness

Instructors hurled Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas into 40-metre abyss without attaching safety equipment A 21-year-old woman who died when two rope-jumping instructors threw her from a bridge without first harnessing her to security equipment has been buried in Brazil’s São Paulo state. Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas was rope jumping on Saturday at Ponte do Esqueleto, an abandoned bridge in the municipality of Limeira where tourists practise extreme sports. The young woman, who aspired to become a physical education teacher, had asked to be launched from the bridge airplane-style, with two instructors hoisting her above their shoulders as she spread out her arms. On Monday, police investigator Andrea Levy told journalists that the three jumping instructors involved in the incident acknowledged that De Freitas was not connected to safety ropes when she jumped Saturday in the countryside of Sao Paulo state. Levy said the three instructors have been arrested and could face manslaughter charges. “They do not remember whether they forgot to attach (the ropes), or who was supposed to do it, or who failed to check. But the fact is the ropes were not attached to her,” Levy said. Fo