Spain: Poor English may have caused bungee-jumping death

MADRID – A Spanish court says a bungee jumping instructor’s poor English may have led a 17-year-old Dutch woman to jump to her death without being connected by rope to a viaduct in northern Spain two years ago.

The northern Cantabria regional court says the instructor’s order of “no jump,” instead of “don’t jump,” may easily have been understood by the victim as “now jump.”

The instructor is under investigation for negligent homicide. The death occurred at the 32-meter-high (105-foot-high) Cabezon de la Sal viaduct in August 2015.

The court said bungee jumping was prohibited on the viaduct and that the woman lacked parental permission to practice the sport. Neither the woman nor the instructor was named.

The court said Tuesday that a trial in the case had yet to be ordered.