Couple made chilling final phone call before plunging to their deaths in bungee jump | World | News
The couple called the company, begging for them to stay open for longer (Image: Getty Images)
An engaged couple met their tragic end just hours after making a chilling phone call.
Alberto Galletti, 25, and Tiziana Accora, 26, were on a trip when they arrived at the Ponte Canale bridge near the town of Polino, in Italy, about 60 miles north of Rome, on the evening of May 1, 2002.
They had the shared dream of bungee jumping and had decided on a place to fulfil this, on camera, together.
Alberto was a serving paratrooper with extensive experience in high-risk jumps and activities involving heights. Tiziana, on the other hand, was thrilled to attempt her first bungee jump.
However, the couple realised they were running behind schedule, and the Polino Bungee Jumping Centre would have already shut by the time they arrived, reports the Irish Mirror.
The couple jumped off the bridge together and plummeted to their deaths (stock image) (Image: iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus)
As a final effort, the couple contacted the company, begging staff to keep the centre open. Site manager Lorenzo Illuminati agreed to stay and wait for them.
Recounting the moment to state television in the wake of events, he said: “I had actually closed when they called. They begged me to stay open, so I waited for them.”
Just an hour earlier, another couple had completed the same jump that Alberto and Tiziana subsequently attempted, so nothing appeared particularly out of place, Illuminati noted.
Yet when Alberto and Tiziana leapt from the 100-metre-high bridge, in each other’s arms, the cord failed to function properly.
Alberto had experience with heights, but it was Tiziana’s first bungee jump (Image: Getty)
Rather than springing back skyward, the pair plummeted the full 330ft to the canyon floor beneath. As was routine procedure at the facility, the jump was being recorded – intended to serve as a keepsake of the experience.
Instead, it documented the couple’s tragic final moments.
“They jumped off together in each other’s arms, and then this happened. It’s terrible,” said Illuminati.
In the wake of the tragedy, while a comprehensive investigation was launched, the Polino Bungee Jumping Centre was closed down.
Early speculation pointed towards the cord supporting the pair having broken, given that two individuals jumping simultaneously would exert considerably more pressure on the equipment than a solo jumper.
Terni police spokesman Lieutenant Rovaldi Di Marco said: “From what I know, it should have been able to cope with a combined weight of 2,000kg, so, in theory, it should have been okay. However, that is one aspect we will be looking at, as well as the safety clips that are harnessed into the structure of the bridge, or maybe it was a human error – it is still too early to say.”
Subsequently, investigators determined the disaster resulted from a catastrophic equipment malfunction rather than the cord breaking.
Di Marco said: “The cord was found intact, and before the couple, a man of 90kg jumped off the bridge.”
