Woman falls to death in bungled rope jump bridge plunge

A 21-year-old woman has died in dramatic fashion, when two rope jump instructors threw her from a bridge in Brazil without harnessing her to security equipment.

Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas was going 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 aeroplane style, with two instructors hoisting her above their shoulders as she spread out her arms.

Footage shared online shows two men in white helmets launching Freites into a 40-metre abyss without attaching her to any security equipment as an onlooker screams at the instructors to attach her to a cord.

The instructors are wearing harnesses that appear to be attached to a security rope.

Rope jumping is an extreme sport that differs from bungee jumping in the type of cord used and the resulting motion of the fall.

Bungee jumping uses elastic rubber cords that create a vertical, bouncing effect, whereas rope jumping uses low-stretch climbing ropes that convert the fall into a horizontal, pendulum swing.

Police in Brazil have arrested three men who worked for the company offering rope jumps over the young woman's death. Officials have also initiated an investigation that could lead to murder charges.

The video of Rodrigues de Freitas falling to her death has gone viral on social media platforms, where internet users are describing her death as a surreal case of negligence.