By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-06-15 16:08:52 | Updated at 2026-06-15 17:56:02
1 hour ago
The young Brazilian woman who was thrown to her death by careless bridge jumping staff was still alive immediately after the fall, according to the off-duty nurse who rushed down below to try and save her.
Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, was seen in disturbing footage circulating online being hurled from the abandoned 130-foot Skeleton Bridge in Limeira, São Paulo, on Saturday and falling to her death.
The aspiring physical education teacher had asked to be launched from the bridge 'airplane style,' with two instructors hoisting her above their shoulders as she spread out her arms, according to local reports and as seen in the footage.
The fall was fatal, and the operators who failed to attach a rope to the harness have been charged with homicide with eventual intent, which is applied when the suspect did not mean to kill but acted with extreme recklessness causing death.
Shockingly, Rodrigues de Freitas did not die immediately after plunging more than 100 feet to the ground, the nurse who tried to save her told Domingo Espetacular.
The nurse, who was not named, first recounted the difficulty in getting to the young victim of the fall.
'I scraped my whole hand because there's a steep slope down there and only one rope for us to climb down,' she said on Sunday in Portuguese. 'It was all covered in mud. I kept going down, down, we walked all the way.'
The nurse then said: 'I saw that she was breathing heavily, I looked at her pupils, which were unfortunately dilated, both of them, and I saw a pulse. It was very weak, but she still had a pulse.'
Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, died on Saturday after rope jump operators forgot to attach her harness, causing her to plunge 130 feet from a bridge in Brazil
An unnamed nurse who rushed to Rodrigues de Freitas's aid said that the young woman was shockingly still alive immediately after the fall
Disturbing footage circulating on social media shows the moments just before Rodrigues de Freitas was launched from the bridge without a rope
She began to get emotional as she said: 'I even talked to her. I have a habit of joking and saying, "nobody dies on my shift." And I told her, "Duda, nobody dies on my shift." Even though I wasn't on my shift there.'
Duda is a common affectionate or informal nickname in Portuguese for women named Eduarda or men named Eduardo or Duarte.
Brazil's military police told local media that two men fled from the scene shortly after the realizing their fatal mistake.
The men were soon located in a wooded area nearby by a helicopter, and the São Paulo Public Security Secretariat then confirmed that six people were taken in for questioning.
Three men who were taken into custody were charged with homicide with eventual intent.
The suspects claimed there was a 'blackout' during set up and they 'can't remember' where or when the failure in attaching the rope occurred or who should have put them on in.
The trio in custody have been identified locally as Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42, Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32, and Vitor de Freitas Gonçalves, 27.
No company has emerged taking responsibility for the tragic botched jump and death, and it appears that the men may have been operating as an unauthorized group.
The drop from the 130-foot Skeleton Bridge in Limeira, São Paulo, is pictured in a post from Rodrigues de Freitas's own Instagram account
Six people were arrested after the two who fled into a wooded area were located by helicopter. Three of those arrested at the scene were charged with homicide with implied malice
There has been at least one other fatal accident at the appropriately-named Skeleton Bridge. In 2024, a female cyclist who was riding across the bridge with friends lost control and plunged over the side to her death.
Because the bridge is abandoned, access, maintenance and management fall under the responsibility of the Brazilian federal government.
Following the cyclist's death, the federal government ordered the municipality of Limeira to block access to the bridge and install danger signs.
The municipality complied with the order, but the blocked entrance was quickly bypassed, and local adventure sports operators lobbied the Limeira City Council to keep the bridge open for commercial purposes.
After Rodrigues de Freitas's fatal fall over the weekend, Limeira's City Hall reasserted that the federal government is responsible for regulating the bridge and said that it had warned federal authorities of the dangers the bridge posed.
The city also said that it would be taking legal action against the Brazilian government for failing to monitor and regulate access to the old railway bridge.
Limeira's mayor, Murilo Felix, said: 'In addition to the circumstances that led to the young woman's death, it is necessary to establish who is responsible for the lack of access control to a federal area which, for years, has posed known risks and is still without the necessary safety measures.
'We have been calling for action for months to ensure that the Federal Government assumes its responsibility. Unfortunately, its failure to act has just resulted in yet another tragedy in Limeira.'
After a previous fatal accident at the bridge in 2024, the Brazilian government ordered danger signs to be put up in the area. Rodrigues de Freitas posted one of those signs on her Instagram
Rodrigues to Freitas was an aspiring physical education teacher. She was buried in Sao Paulo on Sunday
Although the blocked entrance to the bridge was quickly bypassed after it was set up, the warning signs remained. Rodrigues de Freitas even posted a chilling photo of one of the signs to her Instagram story shortly before her fall.
The signed depicted a skull and crossbones and said: 'Danger. Risk of death.'
Rodrigues de Freitas was buried in Sao Paulo on Sunday, with her mother breaking her silence over her daughter's tragic death in an overnight social media post.
Hours after her daughter's funeral took place, the mother 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.'
