'Poor English' Led To 17-Year-Old Girl's Bungee Jumping Death

A judge in Spain has ruled that a bungee instructors "poor English" caused a 17-year-old Dutch girl to jump before her bungee cord was properly secured. According to the New York Daily News, the judge's ruling means the director of the company "will face prosecution for homicide through negligence."

The tragic miscommunication happened in August 2015 when Vera Mol was vacationing in Cantabria, Spain. As the girl and her friends were preparing to jump from the Cedeja viaduct, which is "expressly prohibited" in Spain, the instructor told the girl 'no jump'. The judge said that the girl could have thought he said 'now jump'.

"The use of the poor English 'no jump' could perfectly well be understood as an explicit order to jump by the victim," the judge said, adding that the instructor's level of English was not sufficient enough to coach someone in "something as delicate as jumping into the void from an elevated point."


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