ANOTHER tourist has died in a bungee-jumping accident – this time in Cantabria.
The Dutch woman, 17, reportedly misunderstood her instructor when he ordered her not to jump, and leapt 32 metres off the Cedeja viaduct - part of the A-8 motorway - in Virgen de la Peña, hitting the dry riverbed below.
She was part of a group of 13 Dutch and Belgian teens on a surfing and adventure camping holiday in the northern region, which backs onto the Atlantic coast of Spain, and was looking forward to bungee-jumping for the first time.
The young victim was the last but one to jump, and as she waited her turn, one of the five instructors shouted to her in broken English, “No jump! Is important! No jump!”
But the teenager thought she heard him say, “Now jump,” and did so.
At the time, she only had one of the cords attached to her harness, and was not yet tied to the anchors on the bridge.
The tragedy happened at around 20.30hrs on Monday evening, just as daylight was running out.
Despite several camps in the area including bungee-jumping off the viaduct in question in their programme, Local Police officers and the council in the village of Cabezón de la Sal – which the bridge belongs to – say they have never been aware this activity was taking place, saying it was a 'very risky' location.
The camps use a platform some eight metres below the bridge itself, which is of 'very poor visibility', according to local authorities.
Given that the A-8 is officially the property of the central government's public works, transport and infrastructure ministry, any adventure holiday leaders who want to carry out bungee-jumping off the bridge are expected to seek a licence from Madrid, as well as a permit from Cabezón de la Sal town council.
Mayoress Isabel Fernández said the camp had neither, and did not have a permit for any other of its adventure sports activities.
The Belgian company FlowTrack has been sending Dutch and Belgian teens to the camp and subcontracting the excursion programme out to the same firm for over five years.
Organisers say the deceased was one of 150 youngsters from the two countries who had travelled over with FlowTrack and were staying at a holiday park alongside the Oyambre beach, and that the site was closed off to the public to prevent strangers getting near the kids.
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