A nurse told a dying 21-year-old ‘nobody dies on my shift’ and still couldn’t save her after staff allegedly forgot the safety rope

Three men have been charged with homicide after 21-year-old Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas fell more than 130 feet from the Skeleton Bridge in Limeira, Brazil, on Saturday. As reported by NBC News, Rodrigues de Freitas had requested to be launched in an airplane-style jump, which involved two instructors lifting her above their shoulders before tossing her over the side of the bridge. No safety rope had been attached to her before the jump.

Off-duty nurse Rayza Dias was present at the scene and rushed down a steep, muddy slope to reach the young woman after the fall. She later described navigating the descent with only one rope available to help climbers get down. Upon reaching Rodrigues de Freitas, she found her still breathing heavily and with a weak pulse.

Attempting to comfort the victim, Dias told her, “Nobody dies on my shift,” despite not being on duty at the time. Rodrigues de Freitas did not survive. She was buried on Sunday, and her mother later shared a tribute on social media, writing that “that damned rope” had taken her daughter away forever.

The bridge had already been linked to a death the year before

The three men charged are Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42, Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32, and Vitor de Freitas Goncalves, 27. All three face homicide with eventual intent, a legal classification used in Brazil when reckless conduct makes a fatal outcome foreseeable. Two of the men reportedly attempted to flee after the jump and were found in a nearby wooded area with the help of a police helicopter.

The suspects, who were working as jumping instructors, told investigators that Rodrigues de Freitas had not been connected to any safety equipment. They claimed a blackout had occurred during preparations and that none of them could recall who had been responsible for attaching the rope. It remains unclear whether a licensed company was overseeing the activity, with reports suggesting the group may have been operating without authorization, amid separate coverage of an Uber driver asleep at the wheel for most of a recent highway trip.

The Skeleton Bridge is a defunct railway structure, and responsibility for access control falls to the federal government. A cyclist died at the same location in 2024, after which the city of Limeira was ordered to install barriers and warning signs.

The city complied, but adventure sports operators reportedly bypassed those barriers to continue commercial jumps from the bridge. Before her fatal jump, Rodrigues de Freitas had posted an image on Instagram of a warning sign bearing a skull and crossbones and the words “Danger. Risk of death,” alongside a final message to her followers asking who had allowed her to jump off a bridge.

Limeira Mayor Murilo Felix expressed frustration over the lack of federal oversight at the site, stating that the city had issued repeated warnings about the risks the bridge posed. He said the federal government’s failure to act had resulted in another tragedy. The city council has since filed a formal complaint against the federal government over the absence of security measures at the bridge, amid recent viral attention to a pilot’s pre-flight safety check drawing millions of views online.

Brazil’s Civil Police are continuing their investigation into the circumstances surrounding the jump and the individuals involved.