Bungee Operators in Brazil Allegedly Forgot the Harness, Killing 21-Year-Old Tourist

A 21-year-old woman died in Brazil on Saturday after being dropped from a roughly 12-meter bridge during a bungee jump, with investigators saying the elastic safety rope had not been attached to her harness. The fatal accident took place at the popular adventure site known as Ponte do Esqueleto, or “Skeleton Bridge,” in Limeira, in Brazil’s São Paulo state.

According to Brazilian reports and footage circulated in local media, the instructors held the woman in the air and then released her over the side of the bridge without realizing the main bungee cord on the ground had never been connected. Witnesses at the site, including friends and other bathers, were horrified as she hit the ground hard. One bystander shouted, “Her rope!” while others rushed to begin CPR in an effort to save her.

Emergency crews and military police arrived and pronounced her dead at the scene. Authorities said she suffered catastrophic multiple-system trauma and fatal fractures throughout her body. Minutes before the jump, she had posted on social media about her excitement and fear, writing, “Who is the crazy person who approved me to come and jump here from a bridge???”

Police in São Paulo said they are treating the case seriously and have opened a formal criminal investigation for aggravated negligent manslaughter. Multiple people linked to the operation, including the company manager and the instructors present on the bridge, have been summoned for questioning, and the site’s operating licenses have been suspended pending further notice. The company now faces full responsibility for the safety failure, according to the initial findings.