The ‘hairialists’ plummeted 35 feet to the ground after the metal frame supporting them collapsed…
According to a story on news site Syracuse, a team of nine entertainers (known as ‘hairialists’) were seriously injured after the platform that they were hanging from by their hair collapsed, causing eight of the aerial acrobats to plummet 35 feet to the ground below, where they unfortunately landed directly on top of a dancer.
The accident occurred during the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus’ Legends Show at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island and the patients were admitted to Rhode Island Hospital. Thankfully, according to Roman Garcia, the General Manager of the show, “everybody’s doing fine, everybody’s at the hospital, everybody’s conscious, everybody’s doing pretty well.”
Federal safety investigators have not yet determined why the metal support frame snapped, and have not officially labelled it the cause of the accident. “We don’t know if it was metal fatigue, if it wasn’t properly positioned or something else,” Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare told US media.
The horrifying, unfortunate accident was captured by a number of audience members, including Valerie Venraij, but be warned, some viewers may find the following footage distressing…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlSVa4SbAJc#t=69
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