The woman who died in an ill-fated bungee jump in Brazil literally put her life in the hands of a rogue business operated by three unsupervised men who were charged with homicide earlier this week for throwing her off an abandoned bridge with no life-saving cord attached to her body.
Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas’s life tragically ended Saturday when the 21-year-old college student was launched off a bridge “airplane style” near Sao Paulo without being attached to a bungee cord, plummeting to her death on the ground 130 feet below.
Three instructors, Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42; Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32; and Vitor de Freitas Gonçalves, 27, were arrested and charged with homicide on Sunday.
Brazil authorities determined their business was illegal and unlicensed, according to the New York Post.
The owner and operator of an American bungee jumping outfit, who has conducted “thousands” of successful jumps over 30 years in business, told the Post multiple “red flags” and “pure negligence” are visible in the viral video of the tragedy.
Chris Batten, owner and operator of Bungee Expeditions, told the Post that even before it becomes clearly evident no rope was attached to the woman, there are other red flags on display.
“What we saw here was pure negligence from many avenues,” he said. “I’d say the obvious signs would be, is it run like a business? Is it run like a professional operation? Is there a clear person in charge who is directing other staff? There should have been one person in charge who handled everything.”
On Monday, a lawyer for the three suspects said none of them had taken responsibility for being in charge. Reportedly, neither could any of them “remember” who was supposed to attach the line to the young woman.
“If there’s not one person taking charge and then another person acting as backup, that’s a clear red flag,” Batten said.
There were other glaring errors. Batten said there were no “backup” ropes. A jumper like the woman, weighing between 100 and 150 pounds, would “be on a minimum of three bungee cords, at least in the United States,” he said.
In one bridge angle from the video, only two cords are visible after the woman is launched. They are unattached and left on the deck of the bridge.
Three cords can handle up to 20,000 pounds without breaking, he said.
Batten said participants should “trust their gut” before taking part in bungee jumping. He said safety comes down to an individual operator’s commitment to training and detail and a participant should walk away if things don’t feel right.
The owner/operator cautioned Americans to be extra cautious in foreign countries when doing extreme sports.
“You get outside of the United States, it’s kind of a wild, wild West out there,” he said.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.