Yecenia Morales Colombian bungee jumper accidentally leaps 164ft to her death after confusing signal for her boyfriend to jump as hers.
Did unsafe practises and a failure of protocol lead to one woman’s inadvertent death?
A woman fell to her death while bungee jumping after leaping from a bridge without a cord attached when she accidentally followed a signal meant for her boyfriend.
Yecenia Morales, 25, fell 150ft from the viaduct in Amaga, northern Colombia, on Sunday. The spot is a popular location amongst sports thrill seekers.
The lawyer was preparing for her first ever bungee and had travelled to the popular spot organised by Sky Bungee Jumping with her boyfriend.
The boyfriend was ahead in the line when they approached the platform and the couple were the 90th jumpers of the day Colombia’s Noticias Caracol TV reported.
Misunderstood cue for boyfriend to jump as hers despite not having cord attached
When staff gave the signal for the boyfriend to jump, Morales misunderstood despite having no bungee cord attached to her ankles.
She leaped down into the valley and fell to her death as her boyfriend rushed down to help her.
He was the first to find her on the ground and desperately tried to perform CPR to no avail.
Firefighters from Amaga attended and pronounced her dead at the scene.
Gustavo Guzmán, the mayor of the municipality of Fredonia, told El Tiempo: ‘She got confused. The signal was for the boyfriend to jump because he was already attached to the security equipment.
‘They had only put the harness on her so she got confused and rushed.’
The boyfriend is still receiving treatment as a result of the injuries he sustained rushing down to find her and he is said to be in a state of shock.
Investigation of illegal practices
According to local media, hospital doctors said Morales suffered a heart attack before reaching the ground.
Her brother Andres said Yecenia was a happy woman who loved reading and dancing and had an entrepreneurial spirit.
He said: ‘My sister is a girl with all the best values, happy, spontaneous, with virtues that made her love her friends, and helped the people in need.’
The DailyMail reported local authorities have also opened an investigation after claims that two companies offering services and supplying equipment at the site were unauthorised to do so.
