Continuity mistake: When Indy starts climbing up the cliff after the water bursts through, we see a close-up of the back of his shirt, and there's one small tear quite high up. We cut to a wide shot, and now there are several quite wide rips across the back of his shirt. (01:36:30)
Continuity mistake: When Indy fights the two guards before the bridge scene, the sequence is all off. He knocks one to the ground, who lands still clutching his sword. The other one has his sword whipped away from him - it flies over the cliff, and he runs off, whimpering. We then see the other guard approach, and suddenly Indy's standing over an unconscious guard by the boulder and clutching a sword, both of which have appeared from nowhere. (01:37:25)
Continuity mistake: On the bridge scene Indy's sword changes. Initially, he has a sword with a straight blade and no hilt; however, when he shouts at Mola Rom, he has a something like a cutlass curved blade and heavy handguard to a machete-like weapon he uses to cut the bridge. (01:38:05 - 01:38:55)
Continuity mistake: When the water tank is about to collapse there's a closeup of Mola Ram and a few Thuggees, then after a shot of the water tower collapsing there's another closeup of smiling Mola Ram and his Thuggees, but the second closeup is a flipped shot. (01:39:25)
Continuity mistake: When Mola Ram is climbing the bridge, Willie and Short stand together; half a second later Mola Ram falls and Short has managed to climb up and move apart to let him pass by. Then a nano-second later, Mola Ram grabs onto a piece a wood and Short and Willie manage to stand together again. (01:41:15)
Continuity mistake: When Shorty falls through the bridge, a large hole is made. Later on, the hole disappears. (01:41:55 - 01:42:50)
Other mistake: When fighting the sword wielding guards before getting on the bridge, Indy uses his bullwhip to disarm one of them. As the sword flies out of his hand it kind of hangs in the air as it falls. It is obviously a prop made of a very light material. (01:42:35)
Continuity mistake: On the bridge, an arrow suddenly appears to the right of Indy's foot seconds before any arrows are shot at him. (01:42:55)
Factual error: In the scene at the end of the movie on the bridge, the fear of heights is increased by the shots of hungry reptiles waiting below. The reptiles shown are alligators. This is wrong: crocodiles are the animals that live in India, not alligators. (01:45:35)
Continuity mistake: As Mola Ram and Indy fight hanging from the broken bridge, there is a wide shot of the fight. In this shot, the Thuggee that was right above Mola Ram disappears. (01:46:17)
Revealing mistake: When Indy is hanging off the bridge and is punched by Mola Ram, Indy's safety wire attached to his belt is very noticeable. (01:47:45)
Revealing mistake: Indy's bridge breaks and he is hanging by it with the natives shooting arrows at him. If you look closely you can see two arrows bounce off his back. All the other clatter noisily onto the cliff-face or stick in the bridge, so it's not like they've lost much force due to the range. (01:48:40)
Revealing mistake: At the end, the elephant that the kid is riding sprays Indiana and Willie with water. If you watch very carefully, Harrison winces in anticipation right before the water hits them. (01:52:30)
Continuity mistake: After Wu Han is shot there's a closeup of the gun in Chen's hand, and as the camera slowly pans up to Chen's face note the carnation is on Chen's right lapel, though in the previous and following shots Chen's boutonnière is on his left lapel. The closeup is a flipped shot.
Factual error: In the area with the lava Willie is put in a cage and lowered over the lava. She keeps dropping down until she is stopped what looks like a few feet above the lava. In reality she would have been incinerated by the heat.
Continuity mistake: The mine cart Willie pushes and then climbs into does not have an actual braking mechanism at the bottom of the braking pole, but after Indy joins Willie and Shorty in the mine cart there's a sudden appearance of a metal braking mechanism, which is attached to the pole and base of the cart, for use during the chase.
Visible crew/equipment: During Lao Che's car chase, when Short Round pulls up behind the rickshaw and slams on the accelerator, in the next shot just as the car speeds up, we can see the metal bar at the bottom front of the car leading to underneath the rickshaw, for the stunt. Then, when the rickshaw crashes we can see the small third wheel at the base of the rickshaw's seat, allowing it to lean all the way back and roll on the ground for the stunt.
Revealing mistake: When Indy and Willie jump out the window at Club Obi Wan, just as they crash through the glass note the white stunt leggings/knee-pads on Willie's legs above her shins. Willie's legs are bare when she lands on the lower awnings.
Visible crew/equipment: While clinging to the hanging bridge, just as Indy tries to grab Mola Ram's foot in the closeup we can see Indy's red harness and the wire cable protruding from his shirt. Then after Mola Ram orders his archers to shoot, when Short Round and Willie are shouting at Indy we can see a bit of Shorty's safety cable protruding from his shirt, and it's seen again after Mola Ram falls onto Indy, when Willie and Shorty are shouting once more.
Visible crew/equipment: While everyone is clinging to the hanging bridge, when Mola Ram drops the last Thuggee goon from the bridge we can see Mola Ram's clasped safety belt protruding from his black garment.
Chosen answer: His neck was snapped by the whip getting caught in the fan. There isn't always blood with a hanging. Since the fan wasn't designed to hold a man's weight, the motor in it would have stopped or given out.
Captain Defenestrator