Madrid - A fatal misunderstanding is now thought to be behind the death of a 17-year-old Dutch girl who died after falling more than 40 metres off a bridge on Monday evening while bungee jumping.
The incident happened close to the town of Cabezon de la Sal in the northern region of Cantabria when the unnamed girl fell onto a dry river bed.
She had been part of a group of 13 Dutch and Belgian teenagers who were accompanied by five monitors and was the last of the group to make the jump.
Early reports were unable to explain why she jumped to her death, but it now appears the tragedy was down to a simple, but tragic, misunderstanding.
One of the monitors is reported to have said “No jump, it’s important. No jump,” just before the victim leapt from the bridge before her safety harness had been correctly fixed.
It is thought the girl misheard those instructions, believing the monitor, who should have said “Don’t jump”, had actually said “now jump”, and believed it was safe for her to do so.
This is the second tragedy of this kind to have happened in Spain in just over a month and follows the death of a 23-year-old British woman who was killed in Pinos de Valle in the southern province of Granada.
It also appears the Granada tragedy also involved a communication breakdown as the woman jumped as the guide was checking the length of the cable she was attached to was the correct length.
The two tragedies have led to calls for the establishment of firm protocols to ensure there is no repeat, while authorities in Cabezon de la Sal insist they had no knowledge the bridge was used for extreme sports.
Xinhua