Second woman plummets to her death in Brazil after hiking mishap
· Toronto Sun
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A day after a young rope-jumper died over the weekend after being thrown by extreme sports wranglers, another woman had plunged to her death.
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Rosemary Suzart Garcia, 59, was with 14 other hikers when she fell 30 metres from a cave in Marica, in the area known as Gruta do Spar, G1 reported.
The group was in the middle of hiking a steep trail when witnesses told police that Garcia stopped to apply bug spray — but while lifting one leg, her supporting foot gave way, causing her to “lose her balance and be thrown towards the precipice.”
Guide was unable to save her
The guide told police that he ran towards the victim and tried to grab her arm, but couldn’t reach her in time.
He detailed that he “threw himself towards her, but managed to grab onto a root in the area, thus avoiding falling,” according to the outlet.
Giovani Maximino, a fellow hiker who witnessed the accident, was near their guide, who tried to save her but couldn’t hold on to the woman due to the steep incline of the terrain.
“The guide tried to hold her and almost fell too,” Maximino said. “It’s a height of approximately 30 metres. She was just finishing applying insect repellent. It was very fast!”
Fire crews said that they received reports at about 10:45 a.m. local time on Sunday but when they arrived at the horrific scene, Garcia was already dead.
Maximino told the outlet that Garcia, who lived in Cordovil in the northern part of Rio de Janeiro, called her children to give them the tragic news.
The Municipality of Marica said in a statement that they were not investigating the matter, explaining that the area is private and located within the boundaries of the Marica Municipal Wildlife Refuge.
“Because it is private property, the City Hall is not responsible for authorizing, inspecting, or prohibiting rappelling activities carried out on the site,” the statement said. “The circumstances of the accident will be investigated by the competent authorities.”
Brazil’s Civil Police said they have conducted a forensic examination of the scene and the investigation is ongoing.
‘I didn’t see the rope’
Garcia’s deadly fall comes one day after Maria Eduardo Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, was hurled off a bridge near Sao Paulo during a rope-jumping expedition — with no rope attached.
Six people — the three men who were filmed throwing her while the rope lay uselessly on the ground, and three others who worked at the jump centre — have been arrested following the tragedy, which was caught on camera .
Instructors Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32, Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42, and Vitor de Freitas Gonçalves, 27, admitted to investigators that they “blacked out” and couldn’t remember who was supposed to attach the victim’s safety line, according to newly released interrogation footage obtained by TV globo affiliate EPTV .
Egoroff told authorities that he and Cintra were responsible for attaching the rope, but claimed he “can’t remember” the moments after they walked Rodrigues de Freitas to the edge of the platform, with Egoroff holding the woman’s shoulders while Cintra brought up the rear, holding up her feet.
“After that, it erased from my mind,” he said, per the outlet.
Cintra said it wasn’t one person who tethered the rope to the jumpers, and they took turns.
“It’s us three on the job. I can’t understand at what moment I didn’t see the rope. I simply cannot understand,” he told police.
It wasn’t until a witness recording her jump panned the camera over to the rope coiled on the ground, shouting, “The rope!” when they realized the sick snafu.
An off-duty nurse who ran down to the trail where Rodrigues de Freitas’ body was said the young woman was still alive when she got to her, but died from her injuries shortly after.
The three men have been charged with homicide and remain behind bars as the investigation continues.