Drone footage has laid bare the route that led to the death of a 21-year-old Brazilian woman who fell around 130 feet from a bridge in São Paulo state after reportedly jumping without a secured bungee cord.
The video, obtained exclusively by the Daily Mail, shows the stark conditions at Ponte do Esqueleto, or “Skeleton Bridge,” where Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas died on Saturday.
At the edge of the bridge, only a narrow 12-inch ledge separates visitors from the drop below, underscoring the danger of the site.
Far from offering meaningful protection, the small lip appears more like a trip hazard than a barrier. Looking over the side reveals the sheer concrete pillars of the abandoned bridge, marked with graffiti, with cracked surfaces visible below.
Before the fatal plunge, Rodrigues de Freitas — an aspiring physical education teacher — would have been facing a landscape of trees and rolling hillside surrounding the isolated structure near the city of Limeira.
A visit to the bridge in the days after the incident showed clear signs of deterioration, with the site appearing worn down after years of use for high-risk thrill-seeking activities.
Approaching the bridge, the warning sign in Portuguese was still ominously clear: ‘Perigo, Risco de Morte’ or in English: ‘Danger, risk of death.’
Halfway along the red-hued concrete surface topping the structure, the makeshift nature of precautions exactly where the horror happened was evident.
An eerie clip shot exclusively by the Daily Mail paints a grim picture of the full-scale horror that 21-year-old Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas faced Brazil’s Sao Paulo state on Saturday
A lip measuring just 12 inches at the edge of the towering Ponte do Esqueleto bridge is all that separated the budding physical education teacher from the horror drop
The two strips of faded and rough cloth are pictured fixed to the so-called barrier in an apparent attempt to stop ropes from chafing or breaking
Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, plunged from the forbidding concrete structure in Sao Paulo state on Saturday without a bungee rope
Two pathetic-looking strips of faded and rough cloth were crudely fixed to the so-called barrier in an apparent attempt to stop ropes from chafing or breaking over the side.
Close by, a flimsy hook could be seen screwed into the concrete – with just a piece of wire tied in a circle through it.
While it appears as if a rope could be knotted through, the hook is far too frail to bear any real weight or dramatic force.
Rodrigues de Freitas had apparently asked to be launched ‘airplane style’ from the bridge, with a horrifying video showing the moment two of three instructors hoisted her above their shoulders as she spread her arms wide.
Less than three seconds later, her smashed body lay on the ground while the rope that was meant to be attached to her remained coiled on the bridge.
She was still breathing after hitting the ground.
The tire tracks from the emergency vehicles that rushed to the scene were still visible on the ground in the Daily Mail’s drone video.
A straw hat belonging to one of the jump organizers also remained on the ground close to where she fell.
The tire tracks from the emergency vehicles that rushed to the scene were still visible on the ground in the Daily Mail’s drone video
Rodrigues de Freitas’s last view of life before terror overcame her would have been of the idyllic rows of trees and the sloping hillside that face the daunting edifice
A straw hat belonging to one of the jump organizers also remained on the ground close to where she fell
Approaching the bridge, the warning sign was still ominously clear: ‘Danger, risk of death’
According to a police report seen by the Daily Mail, Rodrigues de Freitas was given a GoPro camera to hold and record her descent.
But it is understood that the camera, which could hold further clues to the horror, has mysteriously vanished.
So far, the three instructors on the bridge with Rodrigues de Freitas before her ill-fated jump have been arrested.
Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32; Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42; and 27-year-old Vitor de Freitas Goncalves were all hit with charges of homicide with eventual intent.
The men have all since acknowledged that Rodrigues de Freitas was not connected to safety ropes when she jumped, according to Brazilian police investigator Andrea Levy.
‘They do not remember whether they forgot to attach (the ropes), or who was supposed to do it, or who failed to check. But the fact is the ropes were not attached to her,’ Levy said.
Rodrigues de Freitas had apparently asked to be launched ‘airplane style’ from the bridge, with a horrifying video showing the moment two of three instructors hoisted her above their shoulders
A glimpse over the edge captures the stomach-lurching view of the abandoned bridge’s graffiti-scrawled giant pillars and multitude of cracks below
She said, too, that none of the men who have been arrested have indicated where the vital GoPro could be.
‘Honestly, I don’t think it’s still there, given the number of people who came to the bridge later to look for it,’ Levy said.
‘I believe that, unfortunately, someone may have taken the camera.’
‘It’s likely that during the fall, it slipped out of the victim’s hand, even though it was strapped to her wrist,’ Levy added.
