Overview
- Video that circulated on Saturday shows 21-year-old Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas being carried to the edge of the abandoned Ponte do Esqueleto in Limeira and thrown while a bungee or safety rope lay unattached on the ground.
- Police arrested six people for questioning and have charged three instructors with homicide- or manslaughter-related counts for gross negligence; the three remain in custody after being remanded by a judge.
- An off-duty nurse and other witnesses said Maria was still breathing with a weak pulse after the fall and that rescuers attempted life-saving care before she died from multiple injuries.
- Investigators are probing missing evidence after witnesses said a GoPro the victim wore was removed and could not be located, and officers reported some staff changed clothes and two suspects briefly fled before being found by a helicopter.
- Local officials have blamed federal failures to secure the disused railway bridge and plan legal action while the case is raising questions about unlicensed operators, how equipment checks were carried out, and possible tighter oversight of danger-prone sites.