# Dutch teen dies bungee jumping in Spain **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 12, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-teen-dies-bungee-jumping-in-spain/727654 "2015-08-12T14:07:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-teen-dies-bungee-jumping-in-spain/727654/1 "2015-08-12T14:07:50Z")
Last tuesday, a 17 year old Dutch teenager died while bungee jumping in Northern Spain. She jumped before her harness had been properly attached, and crashed into the river that ran more than 100 feet below her. The fall killed her instantly. Link to the news (in English): [Bungee jumping death in Spain: Dutch teenager dies bungee jumping in Cantabria | Spain | EL PAÍS English](http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/08/11/inenglish/1439291546_293091.html) The infuriating thing about this story is this: The Belgian company that had organized the trip to Spain sub-contracted the bungee jumping activity to a Spanish company who did _ **not** _ have a permit to carry out that particular activity in that particular place. Link to that particular information (in Spanish, sorry): [http://www.eldiariomontanes.es/cantabria/201508/12/fomento-dice-puenting-esta-20150812000011-v.html](http://www.eldiariomontanes.es/cantabria/201508/12/fomento-dice-puenting-esta-20150812000011-v.html) The really sad/facepalming thing about this story is that the instructor was getting the girl ready to jump, and said to her, in broken English: _ **“No jump. It’s important. No jump.”** _ The girl apparently understood “Now jump!” – So she did. :smack: (Incidentally, if you are going to organize some inherently dangerous activity with people who do not speak your own language… You better make sure to put somebody in charge who can speak whatever lingua franca you will be using _ **correctly** _ :mad:) Link to a couple of other English-language articles: > **[Bungee girl jumped on the 'no jump' command](https://www.thelocal.es/20150812/bungee-girl-jumped-on-the-no-jump-command)** > > The 17-year old Dutch girl who died on Monday during a bungee jump misheard instructions and jumped on the “no jump” instruction, it has emerged. > **[Spain’s tourism sector calls for safety boost after bungee jump death](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/11798764/Spains-tourism-sector-calls-for-safety-boost-after-bungee-jump-death.html)** > > Two tourists killed this summer in accidents in Spain ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-teen-dies-bungee-jumping-in-spain/727654/2 "2015-08-12T14:50:27Z")
I tend to think it’s incumbent on the jump-ee to understand instructions. That’s not a do-over type situation. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-teen-dies-bungee-jumping-in-spain/727654/3 "2015-08-12T16:24:05Z")
Few tourists are expert bungee jumpers. I think some responsibility is required by _both_ parties here. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-teen-dies-bungee-jumping-in-spain/727654/4 "2015-08-12T16:31:37Z")
This wasn’t your standard bungee jump was it though? Where you plunge straight down? Rather I remember it being one of those where you swing like a pendulum under a bridge which always seemed sorta crazy. Not that it really matters. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-teen-dies-bungee-jumping-in-spain/727654/5 "2015-08-12T17:02:36Z")
Another resident in Darwin Award Heaven. ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-teen-dies-bungee-jumping-in-spain/727654/6 "2015-08-12T17:08:05Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > This wasn’t your standard bungee jump was it though? Where you plunge straight down? Rather I remember it being one of those where you swing like a pendulum under a bridge which always seemed sorta crazy. > > Not that it really matters. I’m pretty sure in this specific instance, it was of the plunge straight down variety. This, however, is the crux of the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-teen-dies-bungee-jumping-in-spain/727654/7 "2015-08-12T18:28:58Z")
Good grief. I just had a Louis CK style [“of course… but maybe”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O5h4enjrHw) moment. Of course, of course… of course it’s a tragedy when a young person dies. It’s terrible! Of course. But _maybe_… Maybe, if people voluntarily throw themselves off bridges, and once in a while something goes wrong resulting in _splat_, it’s not that weird? Maybe it’s a little bit their own fault? No, of course I shouldn’t think that. Of course not. It tragic. But maybe… Yeah. And I’m usually not that cynical. Unlike you lot. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-teen-dies-bungee-jumping-in-spain/727654/8 "2015-08-12T18:51:44Z")
I’m reminded of an incident of a few years ago. They offered bungee jumping from one of the ski lift / gondola things that way off the ground. At one point they would stop for people that wanted to do like a 200 footer. Further along they would stop for people that wanted to do like a 400 footer. They had it designed so you would get pretty close to the ground for maximum thrill. Bad part is rope for 400 foot jump used for 200 foot jump was just a bit too much of a thrill…or at least one that could not be repeated. Oopps ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-teen-dies-bungee-jumping-in-spain/727654/9 "2015-08-12T21:08:39Z")
You’re all a bunch of insensitive dolts!!! The poor girl just wanted to make a splash in this world! ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-teen-dies-bungee-jumping-in-spain/727654/10 "2015-08-12T22:49:41Z")
So who gets sued? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dutch-teen-dies-bungee-jumping-in-spain/727654/11 "2015-08-13T02:26:42Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > So who gets sued? The Englishman (or woman) who, circa 1250 AD, started the language on the path to using “do” + “not” as the standard negation syntax, rather than the simpler “no[t]” of most Indo-European languages.