Terrified woman backed out of bungee jump moments before next client was hurled off Brazilian bridge to her death without a rope, instructor reveals

A bungee instructor has revealed that a terrified woman backed out of her jump just moments before his colleagues hurled a woman off the bridge to her death without a safety rope.

Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, was seen in disturbing footage circulating online being thrown by three men from the Skeleton Bridge in Limeira, São Paulo, on Saturday and falling to her death.

Now, an instructor, named Gustavo, who told local media that he had been attending to another customer at the time of the fatal jump, revealed that another woman, before Maria, had changed her mind about taking the leap.

‘I was four meters away from where the platform is. I had my back to the jumping platform because I was equipping another client. [Maria Eduarda’s jump] was the first. Before her, there was supposed to be another one, but the girl got scared and gave up,’ he said.

The young woman was seen in horrific footage of the incident, kitted out in a helmet and body harness, but a long pile of rope could be seen unattached on the floor beside instructors from the company Entre Cordas. 

Gustavo said that he had initially put the bungee equipment on Maria, but when it got to the actual jump, another group of instructors were responsible for attaching the safety rope and checking if the equipment had been properly secured.

On Saturday, Maria, an aspiring physical education teacher, had asked to be launched 130ft from the abandoned bridge ‘aeroplane style’, with three instructors hoisting her above their shoulders as she spread out her arms. 

Recalling the moment she was tossed off the bridge, Gustavo told reporters how he heard Maria’s screams, but hadn’t realised the gravity of the fall until she had already hit the ground.

Video taken at the scene shows Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, being taken to the edge by the staff before being thrown into the ravine

One of the instructors, Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, seen in a previous bungee jump preparing to leap off the abandoned bridge with a child in his arms 

Three men were arrested for homicide with eventual intent following the tragic death

‘What I heard was, ‘Oh my God, the girl!’ It’s normal for someone to scream when they jump, and for the people around to scream along,’ he said. 

‘I heard screams, and when I turned around [to face the platform], it had already happened, and people were talking. A woman said she was a nurse and asked someone to help her down to where the girl who fell was to administer first aid’.

Two of the instructors then tried to flee the scene when they realised their grave mistake, before they were tracked down by a military helicopter and arrested in a nearby wooded area, local media reports.

The São Paulo Public Security Secretariat confirmed that six people were taken in for questioning, before three were arrested for homicide with eventual intent.

The trio were named as Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42, Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32, and Vitor de Freitas Gonçalves, 27. 

Gustavo said that because he was facing away from the platform at the time of the fatal fall, he did not see if the correct safety procedures were followed by the three instructors, and could not say who was responsible for checking her rope.

However, the president of the Brazilian Rope Jump and Human Pendulum Association (ABRJH), Marco Antonio Junior, said that Maria’s jump did not meet the minimum reliability standards required for the extreme sport. 

According to the athlete, ‘any adventure activity in the world’ requires double-checking, which he believes did not take place prior to Maria’s jump.

‘The jump didn’t follow any standard procedure. One instructor has to attach the rope to the client, and the other instructor checks if the rope is attached correctly. That’s the double check. In any adventure activity you do in the world, that’s the first rule,’ he said.

After viewing the footage of the disaster, he said: ‘When I saw the video, I said: “That explains why it happened. There’s no minimum safety standard; three people doing the same job.” They picked her up, lifted her, and threw her around like she was a sack of potatoes. They had absolutely no concern for her life. Nothing. It’s grotesque’.

Antonio Junior added that the ‘aeroplane’ position she was thrown in is not suitable for jumping beginners.

‘Everything was irregular. That rope on the ground is actually not the rope for the jump. It must be the leftover rope they used for the “lifeline”, but it’s not the rope for the jump. And that’s already irregular, because someone could trip over it on the edge of the bridge,’ he said. 

Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, was thrown to her death on Saturday

Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42, and his two colleagues are facing charges of homicide with eventual intent

The charges could see the trio of instructors jailed for between six and 30 years if convicted. Pictured: Vitor de Freitas Gonçalves, 27

In an Instagram story, posted at around 7.30am, the woman showed the bridge and the grassland below, along with the caption: ‘Who was the crazy person who let me jump off a bridge?’

He also hit out at the apparent lack of preparation from the instructors, as he claims they had been scrambling around and looking in opposite directions before Maria was launched. 

‘The two who threw her, throw her and look to the left side of the bridge. The one who’s holding back looks to the right. Why?,’ he asked. 

‘The two who threw her thought she would swing to one side, but the one who helped lift her thought she would swing to the other, since neither of them checked. 

‘Neither of them paid attention to what they were doing, and when it comes to lives, attention has to be 100 per cent,’ he added.

Luis Felipe, one of the instructors in the viral video, who says he earned just £26.50 per jump, told police after his arrest that team members didn’t have set responsibilities during the jumps and equipment checks were carried out ‘jointly.’ 

Quizzed on who was responsible for the final safety checks for Maria Eduarda’s jump, he told police: ‘I can’t remember.’ Maicon Fernandes Cintra reportedly gave cops the same answer. 

According to reports, Egoroff and Cintra held Freitas’s body for the throw, and Goncalves held her feet. 

Egoroff and Cintra appeared dazed in new mugshots when they were taken into custody, as their attorney said the men were confused over who was supposed to attach the bungee cord to Freitas. 

The bungee instructors’ attorney told Brazilian news outlet Metropoles that after he spoke with the three men, none of them could tell him who was responsible for securing Freitas’ rope. 

On Monday, a witness claimed that they saw one of the employees involved in Maria’s jump remove the action camera before she was thrown.

Rafael Goulard, who was waiting in line for his turn at the rope jump, told local news outlet EPTV: ‘The first scene I remember was seeing one of the employees removing the GoPro camera from the neck of the body that was already on the ground. 

‘Was he worried about the equipment, about hiding evidence, or worried about its financial value?’

According to the police report, the victim was using an action camera to film the experience, as she was seen wearing the GoPro in footage prior to the jump.

However, when questioned by cops on the camera’s location, the employees claimed they did not know where it was. 

Searches were conducted in the surrounding area, but the equipment was not located.