‘I don’t remember’: Brazil bungee staff speak for first time as woman dies in horror jump

The bungee jump staff who were working when a woman fell to her death in São Paulo, Brazil, on Saturday have spoken out for the first time in court after their arrest, and one of them claimed he “doesn’t remember” if her safety rope was checked.

21-year-old Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas tragically plummeted 131 feet to her death on 13th June, after staff from the bungee jumping company Entre Cordas allegedly forgot to attach the safety cord.

Horrifying videos show the moment she was thrown off Ponte do Esqueleto in Limeira, Brazil, also known as Skeleton Bridge, with no rope attached. Delegate Andrea Dantas Levy told G1: “This fatality happened today, in my perception, due to a failure to verify and supervise the placement of the rope on the victim’s jump.”

Six people have been arrested in connection with her death, a representative for the São Paulo government confirmed to PEOPLE. The three men who were at the scene, Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32, Vitor de Freitas Gonçalves, 27, and Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42, are facing charges of homicide with implied malice.

Credit: Twitter

The three staff members allegedly changed their clothes and fled the scene before ambulances and police arrived, but were arrested shortly after at the Ponte do Esqueleto trail. Speaking to the court on Sunday, Egoroff claimed he took his clothes off because they were wet, O Globo reports, and wasn’t trying to flee.

“My shirt was already wet… it was very dirty, I went to the car and put on a clean one,” he said. “The rescue team arrived with the equipment, and I got out and went up the trail. I went to the car, changed my shirt and went to the middle of the bridge. That’s when the police arrived with guns drawn and then it hit me. We’re here. Nobody ran.”

He insisted that “everyone responsible stayed there” and they weren’t trying to flee the scene. Cintra said it’s usually Egoroff who checks the safety cords are attached, but he “doesn’t remember” if Maria’s was checked.

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“Usually it’s [Mr Egoroff] who puts on the rope,” he said. “In 99 per cent of cases… and I assist with the operation. I participate in the check, I call the person, I check the helmet. But in her case, I don’t remember. I don’t remember.”

Credit: Instagram

Judge Paulo Henrique Stahlberg Natal of the Criminal Court of Limeira ordered that the three men remain detained in prison for five reasons, including that the death of the young victim was “avoidable” and this was “gross negligence in the execution of a high-risk commercial activity, characterised by the deliberate omission of indispensable safety equipment”.

The judge also said the company “organised the activity without observing risk management protocols, revealing a conscious acceptance of the risk of death” and “exploited the victim’s vulnerability, who trusted in the competence and responsibility of the organisers”.

“The attempt to flee and change clothing after the event” also demonstrated “awareness of the illegality and intent to obstruct the investigation,” the judge concluded. The investigation is still ongoing.

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Featured image credit: Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas/Instagram and Twitter