Brazilian bungee jumper who fell 130 feet without rope was still alive when rescue workers reached her, nurse says ‘I even talked to her’

A 21-year-old woman who fell from a 130-foot-high bridge during an unlicensed bungee jump in Brazil was still alive when rescuers reached her, according to a nurse who ran to help after the fall.Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas died on Saturday after being released from the abandoned Ponte do Escaleto, or skeleton bridge, near Sao Paulo. Employees failed to properly secure her safety equipment before she jumped, leaving her without a bungee cord.The incident was captured on video and later went viral on social media. The footage shows three workers lifting Rodriguez de Freitas before pushing him off the bridge. He was wearing a harness, but no rope was attached.Reza Dias, an off-duty nurse who was at the scene. She immediately started moving down the steep embankment below the bridge to reach the injured student.“I scratched my whole arm because there’s a steep slope at the bottom and there’s only one rope for us to climb down,” Dias told the Brazilian television program Domingo Espetacular.“It was all covered in mud. I kept going down, down, we kept going all the way,” she said, adding that Rodrigues de Freitas was alive when she reached him.“I even talked to him. I have a habit of joking and saying, ‘Nobody dies on my shift.’And I told him, ‘Duda (Eduarda), no one dies on my shift.’ Even though I wasn’t there on my shift,” she said.Emergency medical teams were called to the scene, but Rodriguez de Freitas later died from his injuries. A military police helicopter was also sent for rescue.The incident occurred during a bungee jumping excursion, which included a guided hike and jump from a closed bridge approximately 130 feet high.Authorities have since launched a criminal investigation against the operators running the activity.After the death, six people were taken to Limira Police Station for questioning. Three men, aged 27, 32 and 42, have been arrested on suspicion of negligent homicide, which prosecutors say applies when a person acts knowing that his or her conduct could result in death.Two suspects attempted to flee after the incident and were later tracked down with the help of a military helicopter. Three other individuals associated with the site were detained but later released without charge.Lawyers representing the three arrested men told Jornal National that the operators were experienced in organizing bungee jumps and this was the first death after running such activities for years.However, local officials said the group lacked the necessary credentials and was not authorized to work on the bridge.

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