A 21-year-old model who was hurled from a Brazilian bridge without a bungee cord was still alive after hitting the ground, a nurse has revealed.
Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas fell 130ft to her death in front of horrified witnesses in Limeira, São Paulo, on Saturday after workers failed to attach her safety harness. Videos showed instructors looking down over the Ponte do Esqueleto, an abandoned railway bridge, with the safety line still lying on the platform.
“Nurse says model Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas was alive after 130ft fall without bungee cord.”
Nurse Rayza Dias scrambled down a steep slope to reach her. 'I scraped my whole hand because there's a steep slope down there and only one rope for us to climb down,' she said.
By the time Dias arrived, Rodrigues de Freitas had a weak pulse and was breathing heavily. She died shortly afterwards and was buried in São Paulo on Sunday.
The three men accused of not attaching the rope fled to nearby woodland after realising their mistake before being arrested. Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42, Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32, and Vitor de Freitas Goncalves, 27, said they 'can't remember' who should have put the safety rope on.
Rodrigues de Freitas had posted excitedly about the jump beforehand, sharing pictures of the venue. 'Who was the crazy person who let me jump off a bridge?' she wrote alongside a photograph of an Entre Cordas banner. The bungee jump appeared to involve operators Entre Cordas and Ih Voei. Entre Cordas's Instagram page, which advertised 'a jump to the extraordinary,' was reportedly taken down after her death.
Her mother, speaking after the funeral, said: 'That damned rope took you away from me forever. My beloved daughter, you are gone, and all that remains here is pain and longing. I will love you forever.'
The city of Limeira said it is looking to take legal action against the Brazilian government for failing to monitor access to the old railway bridge where the jumps operated.