Couple's Fatal Leap: Bungee Jump Ends in 300ft Plunge

Alberto Galletti, 25, and Tiziana Accora, 26, met their end in a horrific bungee jump accident after pleading for the Polino Bungee Jumping Centre to stay open late. The couple reached the Ponte Canale bridge near Polino on May 1, 2002, just hours before their tragic plunge.

Alberto, a paratrooper with experience in high-risk jumps, was excited to share his first bungee jump with Tiziana, who was eager to tackle the challenge. However, time was against them as they realized they would arrive too late to jump.

In a desperate move, they called the bungee center, begging site manager Lorenzo Illuminati to keep it open. He agreed to wait for them, recalling, “I had actually closed when they called. They begged me to stay open, so I waited for them.”

Just an hour before their jump, another couple completed the same leap without incident. Nothing seemed amiss as Alberto and Tiziana prepared to take the plunge from the 100-meter-high bridge.

Tragically, when they leapt into the void wrapped in each other’s arms, the bungee cord failed catastrophically. Instead of rebounding, they fell the full 330 feet to the canyon floor below.

The jump was being filmed for posterity, but instead captured their final moments. Illuminati described the scene: “They jumped off together in each other’s arms, and then this happened. It’s terrible.”

In the aftermath of the accident, the Polino Bungee Jumping Centre was shut down while investigations commenced. Initial theories pointed to the cord snapping under the combined weight of both jumpers, which would exceed the equipment's limits.

Lieutenant Rovaldi Di Marco from Terni police stated, “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.” He noted that investigators would examine safety clips and potential human error as part of their inquiry.

Ultimately, investigators determined that a catastrophic equipment failure led to the tragedy rather than a simple cord snap. Di Marco confirmed, “The cord was found intact, and before the couple, a man of 90kg jumped off the bridge.”