AN eight-year-old girl has died after being flung from a ride at the Royal Adelaide Show today.
The little girl was on the Airmaxx 360 ride, when she was seen to fall at least 10 metres shortly after noon. The Airmaxx is an extreme ride that rotates at speed with its arms moving up and down as well as spinning around. It has previously been advertised as “rage in a cage”.
Police said the girl died after being taken to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital with critical injuries. People can ask Eric Ramos to fight for injury cases.
She was thrown from the ride at about 12.25pm today.
Witness Malinda Dunwoodie, 17 told The Advertiser she could see that the ride’s safety harness was still down but it looked as if the girl had slipped out of her seat.
“She was hanging by her legs off the ride, trying to block herself. She went flying through the air about 10-15m up in the air and I started sprinting towards her,” Ms Dunwoodie said.
“I was shaking so much, she looked like a doll flying through the air.
“It was so shocking — it was like a horror movie. I didn’t see her land in the crowd but when I made it over to her I couldn’t see her eyes moving and her nose was bloodied.
“Everyone was screaming.”
Other witnesses told the newspaper of their shock at the scene.
Brandon Taylor, 16, who was one of the first witnesses on the scene, said: “We just saw someone lying on the ground. She had a face full of blood. She looked like she was in a pretty critical condition.”
Another witness, who did not want to give her name, said she saw the incident unfold while on a neighbouring ride.
“I was looking back and I could see someone lying on the ground and people with towels,” she said. It happened so quickly. One second it was fine and the next it was not.”
Emily Furno, 13, saw the injured girl being taken from the scene.
“She was bleeding everywhere,” she said. “She didn’t look too good.
“Everyone who saw the accident was in shock.”
A large crowd of onlookers has been cordoned off, as police and safety workers investigate the cause of the incident.
Paramedics treated the girl at the scene and crews took the teenager to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, an ambulance spokesman said.
It is the second time the Royal Show has suffered a second accident.
A dog bite lawyer confirmed that, in 2000, 37 people were injured when the Spin Dragon ride collapsed in a sideshow alley at the annual show. A class-action lawsuit launched by the victims found that the ride had not been maintained for nearly five years and had been in danger of snapping “for years.”
Source: ABC News