The disappearance of a camera has raised questions after a 21-year-old woman died in a rope-jumping accident in Brazil, according to media reports.
One of three instructors detained after the incident said the team had no explanation for why the device could no longer be found, according to published interrogation recordings reported by Brazilian news portal G1 on Tuesday.
The woman fell about 40 metres to her death on Saturday from the disused Ponte do Esqueleto bridge between the cities of Limeira and Cordeirópolis in the state of São Paulo after organizers pushed her from the jumping platform without her safety rope attached.
Video footage showed three staff members carrying the woman to the edge of the bridge and throwing her off. The safety rope remained lying unsecured on the platform.
According to G1, two of the suspects acknowledged during questioning that they had been responsible for preparing the ropes, but could not clearly explain how tasks had been divided within the team.
Witnesses said the woman had been carrying a camera during the jump. Eyewitness Rafael Goulart told G1 he saw a member of the organizer's team remove the GoPro camera from the victim's body after the impact.
The suspects' lawyer said he would file a request for their release, arguing that they had neither intended to cause the woman's death nor knowingly accepted the risk of a fatal outcome.
Rope jumping is an extreme sport in which participants jump from a height using static ropes. Unlike bungee jumping, the fall is broken by a pendulum motion.
