Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
 
Welcome to Black Phoenix. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Circus platform collapsed and fell thirty feet to the ground
Topic Started: May 4 2014, 09:13 PM (93 Views)
AquarianLove
Member Avatar

The moment circus platform collapsed and fell forty feet to the ground leaving eight acrobats who were hanging by their hair injured

Twenty people have been injured after a platform collapsed during an aerial hair-hanging stunt at a circus performance in Providence, Rhode Island on Sunday, sending eight acrobats plummeting to the ground.

Nine performers were seriously injured in the fall, including a dancer below, while the remainder suffered minor injuries.

The accident was reported to police at about 11:45 a.m., 45 minutes into the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus' Legends show at the Dunkin' Donuts Center.

Stephen Payne, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Bros., said the accident happened during an act in which eight performers hang 'like a human chandelier' using their hair.

He said the metal-frame apparatus from which the performers were hanging came free from the metal truss it was connected to. The eight women fell 25 to 40 feet, landing on a dancer on the ground.

All the performers have been doing ‘some variation of this act for some time,’ Payne said, though he didn't know how long. The current incarnation of the act began in January with the launch of the show, he said.

Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare said officials and inspectors haven't yet determined what caused the accident. He said none of the injuries appears to be life-threatening.

Rhode Island Hospital in Providence admitted 11 patients with varying injuries, including one in critical condition, spokeswoman Jill Reuter said.

Smart phone footage captured by a member of the audience shows a curtain fall to reveal a platform from which the performers were suspended, then suddenly the platform crashes to the ground and a loud gasp of horror can be heard from the audience.

Sydney Bragg, 14, of North Kingstown, said the platform began to fall as it neared the rafters of the arena. At first, she said, she thought it was part of the act.

‘It just went crashing down,’ Sydney said. ‘Everyone was freaking out. We heard this huge clatter and then we just heard the girls scream.’

She said spotlights were on the performers at the time, but all the lights went out after the fall.

Rosa Viveiros of Seekonk, Massachusetts, said the act was covered by a curtain.

Shortly after the curtain was pulled away, she said, the performers fell on top of at least one other performer, a man who stood up with his face bloodied. The other performers remained still, she said.

‘We thought it was part of the circus,’ said Rosa Viveiros' husband, Joe.

'Everybody’s conscious. Everybody’s doing well. We ask everybody to pray for the girls,' said Roman Garcia, general manager of the touring circus, at a news conference.

Fire department rescue units from Providence, East Providence, and Smithfield were called to assisted with the injured. The circus performances were suspended after the accident and quickly canceled.

Officials later announced that the scheduled 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. performances have been canceled.

Othello Smith of Providence said he took his young children out of the auditorium shortly after the accident.

‘One of the performers was crying,’ he told the Providence Journal. ‘It looked pretty bad.’

‘They just dropped,’ he said. ‘It happened so fast you didn’t really believe it happened.’

The circus had arrived in town on Friday and performances were scheduled through Monday, before it moves on to Hartford, CT.

Another witness reported seeing a performer being lifted onto a gurney and as they were being wheeled towards the rescue truck, they waved to the audience and members of the audience clapped.

A circus announcer told the audience that accidents can happen in live performances and thanked the first responders for there efforts.

The hair-hanging stunt is described on the circus' website as a ‘larger-than-life act’ featuring eight female performers.

‘These “hairialists” perform a combination of choreography and cut-ups including spinning, hanging from hoops, and rolling down wrapped silks, all while being suspended 35 feet in the air by their hair alone,’ the website says.

‘In this hair-raising act, audiences will even see the weight of three girls held aloft by the locks of only one of these tangled beauties.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2620091/Nine-injured-circus-platform-collapses-acrobats-fall-30-FEET-ground-high-wire-performance.html




Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
AquarianLove
Member Avatar

Wow! I am so glad nobody died from this.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
silly93
Member Avatar

‘It just went crashing down,’ Sydney said. ‘Everyone was freaking out. We heard this huge clatter and then we just heard the girls scream.’

* :O Shock.* Whoa... The images going through my mind right now, are not good. Hopefully they'll all heal well. When they do they'll have a good dinner time story of how they lived.

Edit: Just saw the video on my local news channel, yikes... I winder if some of them will quit, after they fully heal.
Edited by silly93, May 4 2014, 11:56 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Liquid Sky
Member Avatar
Administrator
That's awful! I hope they're okay.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · General Discussion · Next Topic »
Add Reply

#close_emots { float: left !important; } Code: Select All